


When All the Giants Fell

by Kate_Shepard



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M, Knotting, M/M, Multi, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Polyamory, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Smut, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Turning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2020-11-28 00:14:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20957273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Shepard/pseuds/Kate_Shepard
Summary: After a tragedy on Torfan that demolished their pack, pack Alphas Kate Shepard and Kaidan Alenko thought the Normandy was their chance for redemption. However, she isn't the only Shepard given command.Another Alpha, this one the sole survivor of Akuze, feels that he has just as much right to be there as she does, but Kaidan presents almost as big a threat to him as the Butcher of Torfan. That Alenko's omega mate was the hero of the Skyllian Blitz does little to reassure him that he will ever truly be Alpha of the Normandy pack.Meanwhile, Jack Sheppard doesn't care much about the squabbles between Kaidan and the other Shepards except as it affects him. Born a human Alpha, there was a time when he would have been in the middle of the fray, vying for dominance with the others. Being turned while dying on Torfan seemed like the worst thing that could ever happen to him. It had taken him a long time to accept his new and undesired status as a werewolf omega, but he's found happiness in his pack. Now, a new Alpha, one he doesn't trust, is threatening the delicate balance and there is little he can do.Can these people who've lost everything come together and find it in each other?





	1. Born Ready

_ _

_"I've been the last one standing when all the giants fell. I won't shiver, I won't shake. I'm made of stone, I don't break. Start me up, open my eyes, turn me loose and you'll see why. I was born, born ready. _

_I am the unknown fighter, a dark horse coming for you. I'm going to push up higher, I'm gonna do what I do._

_Staring at the pressure now, I won't quit, not backing down. I was born, born ready."_

_-'Born Ready' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

“What do you mean, there’s another Alpha assigned to my ship?” Shepard demanded. “There are fifteen different regulations disallowing that. I get to pick my co-Alpha.”

“I’m sorry, Commander,” Captain Anderson said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “There was an administrative error and you both got assigned to the same ship. I didn’t find out until this morning and I can’t adjust the duty roster.” 

“What about the one _ I _ chose?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest in a pose he’d become familiar with over the two years she’d acted as his XO on the _ SSV Tokyo_. “Kaidan and I have been co-Alphas for _ years_. We already have a pack, and you want me to replace him with another Alpha, one we’ve never met?”

He’d known Kate Shepard since the Alliance strike on Torfan and had personally selected her for the _ Tokyo _ assignment. When she’d come to him with the request for her own command, he’d put her name in for the newly-minted _ Normandy _ right away. He’d watched her grow and mature and, most importantly, start to _ heal _ over the past two years and couldn’t be more proud. But she was still the same hard-edged Alpha with a ruthless streak a mile wide who’d stop at nothing to get the job done. Having that baleful glare fixed on him was unnerving, to say the least. 

“Lieutenant Alenko is going to be heading up your marine detachment. Commander Shepherd will be your XO.”

Her brow rose at that. “‘Commander Shepherd’?” 

“And now you see the reason for the mixup,” he said, spreading his hands. “I’ll send you his dossier. Give it a chance, Shepard. He might be a good match.”

“I don’t want a mate,” she sighed. “That’s the whole reason I kept Alenko for my XO. He’s already bonded. We lead our pack without having to worry about messy entanglements.”

“This isn’t Torfan, Kate,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and using her first name for emphasis. “It’s a shakedown run.”

“With a crew that will join our pack if we continue together,” she said, scowling. “I understand that our pack as it stands is too small. Three people make a fireteam and we’ve functioned well as such so far, but it doesn’t make a crew. We need more people. I know that. But I do _ not _ want another mate. I won’t go through that again. Losing the rest of them was bad enough, but… You know I’ll make the same damn call again if I have to. And it’ll break me.”

She didn’t have to clarify. He’d been there when she’d arrived on Arcturus, manacled and dead-eyed, almost feral and struggling to maintain her form, the air shimmering around her from the sheer heat of her effort. Hell, he’d been the one to tranq her again when a foolish human reporter had shot out the worst possible question at the worst possible moment. 

_ What did it feel like to kill your own mate, Lieutenant? _

His voice turned soft. “If you’re not ready for this, I can take your pack off the duty roster altogether, get you another assignment under my command.”

“Then why can’t you do that for this other Shepherd?” she asked. 

“It’s a guaranteed posting for him, too, unfortunately. I can take one of you off by your own request, but I can’t remove either of you without your consent.”

“Then get his,” she snarled. “The _ Normandy _ is _ my _ship. I hand-picked her crew. I know her specs. I put the work into outfitting her. I’m not stepping down to let some wannabe wardog take my place.”

“I can ask,” he sighed. “But no promises.”

* * *

“With all due respect, hell, no, Captain,” Jake Shepherd growled. “I got passed over for the _ Tokyo_. I got bumped from the _ Helsinki_. I’ve been waiting for the _ Normandy _ to be spaceworthy for more than six months. This is _ my _ posting. I’m not giving it up so some soldier-bitch with a god complex can go through the motions of sharing command. I’ve seen the duty roster. The only other Alpha on the ship is already bonded. You know as well as I do what that means. Take _ her _ off.”

“She refused,” Anderson said. 

“I know that you don’t know me, Captain, but surely you’ve seen my files. You know what I’ve been through and you know why _ I _ requested a bonded Alpha for my 2IC. I’m not looking for a military mate and you know as well as I do that’s what I’ll get if we form a pack together. I’ve lost two. I won’t lose another. If it comes down to it, I will not be able to make that call, which is why I want a civilian.” 

Anderson shook his head. These two were far more alike than they realized. He had read Shepherd’s file. Born and raised on Mindoir, his pack killed in a batarian raid when he was sixteen; later mated to a beta, of all things, whom he’d watched die on Akuze. They were two sides of the same coin. According to his reports, Shepherd was known to be tough but fair with his troops, capable of making the hard calls when necessary but more prone to attempting diplomacy than Kate. He’d found a balance between Shepard’s ruthlessness and others’ passivity. They would make a good team. If they could work together.

They weren’t going to have a choice, Anderson decided. Both stubborn Alphas, neither would willingly step down, and he wasn’t inclined to make their case to Admiral Hackett to have one of them transferred. The _ Normandy _ was slated to depart the following morning. Whether the pair mated or not wasn’t his business, but together, he saw the potential for a powerhouse team. 

As long as they didn’t kill each other first. 

It was a risk, he knew. There was a reason unbonded Alphas were allowed to choose their own crew when they were put into command. Teams functioned better when led by two, but if there wasn’t cohesion between them, dominance fights were common. Had this been an actual mission rather than a shakedown run, he wouldn’t have even considered it, but by the time they returned, they’d either have formed a unit or the crew makeup would be altered. If they weren’t working well together then, he could justify reassigning Jake. Kate outranked him, Staff Commander as opposed to Lieutenant Commander, so at that point, he’d be within the regs to move him to a different command.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do, Commander,” Anderson said, catching the flash of irritation in the other man’s steely gray eyes. 

Shepherd nodded tersely and performed a snappy about-face before striding from his office. Anderson heaved another sigh and sat down at his desk, scrubbing his hands over his face. It was just a shakedown run. Low-stress as long as nothing malfunctioned. It would be fine. 

So why did he have a sense of foreboding churning in his gut?


	2. Rumble

_"Smoke in my lungs, blood on my tongue. I’m here to make the devil cry._

_It’s like a drug, when I’m on the hunt, I’m gonna wake the war inside._

_Stare at the sun, do it for fun. This is the way I live my life._

_Listen to me now. _ _It’s coming down to the two of us. Let me show you how. I’m here to rumble. Get ready for thunder 'cause I’m here to rumble."_

_-'Rumble' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

“Wait, so we have _two _Commander Shepards?”

“Do you think they’re related?”

“They don’t look anything alike.”

“They don’t _smell _like they’re related. They smell like they hate each other.” 

“Officer on deck!” 

The whispering crewmen snapped to attention, chagrin, anxiety, and anticipation coloring the betas’ and omegas’ scents, as Kaidan walked up to the group. He looked them over, approving of the commanders’ choices. He already knew one of the beta soldiers in the marine detachment he’d be overseeing. Jenkins was young and probably a bit too enthusiastic, but he was loyal and stood his ground when needed. The omegas that formed the backbone of the crew were eager and appeared competent. 

Shepard had put together a good pack, each of them chosen for their skill, dedication, and loyalty to her. How that would play out with the other male Alpha remained to be seen. Anderson had briefed him on the situation that morning and while he understood the captain’s decision, he still wasn’t sure it was the wisest one he could have made. He liked getting his hands dirty, but he didn’t relish the thought of trying to manage two warring Alphas trapped in a confined space for the next year and the brunette omega at the back was right: they _did _smell like they hated each other.

So much for a peaceful shakedown run. 

The Shepards waited near the airlock of the ship, all but circling each other. Kaidan edged closer, the scent of testy, unmated Alphas bringing a rumble to the back of his throat. The larger of the pair loomed, prowling around the smaller female. She stood her ground, staring him down, emerald eyes challenging. The male stepped closer to tower over her and she managed to flash an elongated canine at him without baring her throat. 

Kaidan’s gaze slid past them to the open door of the airlock. He resisted the urge to step in and quell the thus far silent battle of wills. At least they were getting it out of the way now. He had no doubt that there would be future challenges, no matter who won this first round, but the winner of this one would set the tone not only for the rest but for the entire beginning of their voyage. 

He just hoped that they didn’t strip and shift right here in the docking bay. The crew wouldn’t be fazed, but there were human officers who could potentially show up for takeoff and it wouldn’t do to have them come out to the pair at each other’s throats. Humans already thought them too animalistic. No need to perpetuate the stereotypes.

Kate took a step forward, rumbling deep in her chest, and now it was the male standing his ground. Kaidan had been stationed with Kate on Torfan. If he was a betting man—which he sometimes was—he’d put his money on her and not simply because she was his pack or a female. 

Female Alphas weren’t treated with the same disregard that human females historically had been. They were respected. Most, though certainly not all, packs were led by male and female Alpha breeding pairs, although actual breeding typically took place after one’s service was over. The females tended to be the strategists and decision-makers and the bulkier males were usually the primary protectors. 

With a pair that wanted to be there, Kate would have been the tactician making the calls while the male took point on the fire team, the two working as a seamless unit. She’d have been on the ground with them and would fight just as hard as any male, but her greatest strength lay in her cunning, ferocity, and enhanced ability to control the bloodlust that affected males to a greater extent during battle. The males were larger and stronger with sharper instincts and senses. Where humans had turned the differences between the two into points of division, their kind made full use of the balance between them. 

Kaidan wondered for a moment if Shepherd’s addition had less to do with either of them than it did him. No one cared that he’d mated with another male, but to do so with an omega had bucked centuries of tradition and caused a stir within the Alliance. Now, the only way he could have his own command once he climbed high enough in rank was in a setup like the one they’d had before the new Alpha had come into the picture. 

His omega couldn’t lead with him even though Kaidan knew Jack was more than capable. No pack would follow him, no matter that he was stronger and tougher than most Alphas. Arrangements could have been made had he chosen a beta, but an omega guaranteed that he would never lead a pack with his mate at his side. Had the Alliance put the new Alpha in to prevent him from having an opportunity to lead this one?

Kate snarled and pushed past the bulky male, striding into the airlock. Shepherd followed her in. The stalemate was over and she had won, at least for now. 

* * *

“What do you mean, ‘_your _cabin’?” Jake huffed, wrinkling his nose at the scent of her already permeating the room. “I have just as much right to the captain’s cabin as you.”

“No, you don’t,” the intruder said, crossing her arms over her chest and rocking back on her heel. “You are listed on the duty roster as the executive officer, are you not?”

“Yes,” he ground out between gritted teeth. He’d been holding that position since Anderson had come to speak with him and his jaw was beginning to get sore.

“And I am both listed as the captain of this vessel and outrank you, do I not?”

Another terse, “Yes.”

“Then I fail to see the problem, Commander. Now, if there is any other grievance you would like to air before we get underway, this is the time to do so. If not, kindly get the fuck out of my cabin.” Her voice dropped to a snarl at the end and Jake’s hackles rose. 

He’d read the dossier Anderson had provided. He’d thought the Butcher of Torfan was male. For a female to sacrifice her pack the way she had…either she was lacking some basic instincts, was beyond ruthless, or she had seen something that made the sacrifice worthwhile. After Mindoir, he expected it was the latter, but he was biased. It would be neither wise nor safe—for him _or _the rest of the crew—to assume they understood her logic. Or that it had even been logic at all rather than bloodlust that had driven her to slaughter the surrendering batarians. 

But why had she sent _her _pack? She’d taken the command. The other Alphas had willingly submitted to her lead. If she’d ordered, they would have been compelled to obey. Which meant she hadn’t ordered. Had she simply trusted her own betas to get the job done where the rest had failed? Or had she lacked the proper attachment to them? And what did it all mean for the current crew? This was a much larger group than the one she’d taken to Torfan.

Young Alphas typically started out leading a small pack of ten or so betas with a couple of omegas to provide intel and other forms of support before spending some time serving under a human commander with more experience. Once they’d proven themselves, they’d be moved up to a corvette or frigate where their numbers would grow accordingly. Occasionally, groups of Alphas would combine forces under an overseeing pair either temporarily on the ground as he had on Akuze and she on Torfan or—more rarely—long-term on a larger ship. The vast majority of ships larger than a frigate, though, were manned by humans. Temporary alliances of a handful of packs were easier to manage than the sheer numbers required for cruisers and carriers. 

So what the hell was the Alliance thinking in moving her up? Where his pack had been taken from him, hers had been by her own choice. She didn’t _deserve _to lead. This should have been _his _command, his ship, his shakedown run. He shouldn’t be playing second to some upjumped bitch who couldn’t even be trusted not to lead her pack into slaughter.

Her scent grew stronger, radiating off of her in waves that belied her neutral expression. His hairs prickled on his forearms and the back of his neck, warning him of a potential threat. She was smaller by far, but she’d have speed and cunning on her side. His biotics wouldn’t help much, either. The combination of ozone and petrichor that permeated her scent told him that much. The flavor of her static field felt vanguard like him. They were evenly matched as far as he could tell and while he certainly had _grievances _to air against her, he didn’t have the footing on this issue upon which to stand. Rather than attempt to tear her throat out, he turned on his heel and strode out of the cabin.


	3. Cold Blooded

_"Digging in the dirt for a reason. Face the fear, face the demons. No, this ain’t pre-season._

_We gotta rise up, gonna die before we beaten. Stand tall with my legion. Hear the name that they screaming. Chasing power but I ain't evil. Life of the party, remember me as the dreamer._

_I don’t ever ever wanna look back. The future’s blurry, but the past is a trap. I might be staring at my last chance. But I’m cold-blooded, ice in my veins. Never gonna run, venom on my fangs, fire on my tongue, I’m cold-blooded._

_It’s all or nothing. If I go down, gonna burn with the sun. Won’t quit now till I’m sitting on the throne. I’m cold-blooded."_

_-'Cold Blooded' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Kate heard Shepherd’s warning growl before she smelled the would-be attacker coming up on her flank. She pivoted, throwing the target out of his boots. He landed at the feet of a dozen more just like him and she rolled into cover with a warning of her own. Bullets smacked into the floor where she’d been. Behind her, Shepherd was engaging the troops at what had been her front. Kaidan somehow managed to cover both of them, overloading shields for Shepherd while detonating series of primes she set up. A few tense minutes later, the lab was quiet but for the hum of machinery. 

“That’s a lot of firepower for a simple science lab,” Shepherd said, keeping his shotgun at the ready. 

Kate nodded. “Let’s take a look around, see what they’re hiding.”

Kaidan fell in with them as they pushed deeper into the lab. His nose twitched and brow furrowed, telling her he smelled whatever it was that had her hackles up. The scent was faint and hard to detect past the astringent burn of antiseptics and bleach. A woodsy, vaguely-lupine scent was interspersed with something metallic and oily. The unnatural combination underlaid with the beginning stages decomp curled her lip, exposing the tip of a canine slightly longer than a human’s. 

They entered a room with desks bearing datapads and terminals. Kaidan moved to the nearest one and began its boot sequence while Shepherd methodically searched the desk drawers and Kate attempted to activate the datapads. She gained nothing but silent gray screens and empty memory slots. Shepherd’s frustration wafted through the still air and Kaidan’s low grumbling underscored useless taps of his fingers over the keys. 

“Wiped,” he said, confirming her suspicions.

“Were they expecting us or just prepared?” Kate asked.

“Who are ‘they’ anyway?” Shepherd asked.

“Neither possibility is good,” Kaidan said, choosing to answer her first. 

He may have been demoted as a pack Alpha, but it hasn’t lessened his sense of responsibility toward her. They’d been through too much to ever be anything but pack. In a different set of circumstances, he might have become more than that, but she didn’t begrudge him his beloved omega. Others might judge him for it, but she understood. She’d been there. He’d made a good match with Sheppard. Hell, in another world, _she _might have been the one to choose Jack, but she’d lost her desire for another mate after Alex’ death. The arrangement she’d had with them had been perfect before bureaucracy had interfered.

Kaidan continued, “If they were expecting us, it means there’s a mole or a leak. If not, then what are they doing here that would require this level of secrecy?”

“Who _are _they?” Shepherd asked again, firmer this time. “That’s the first question we need to focus on. The others may answer themselves if we figure that out.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I gave you the same briefing I got.” 

Hackett had received an anonymous tip that a terrorist group was doing experiments that violated werewolf rights and posed an intergalactic threat. It was implied that if the Alliance didn’t handle it themselves, the whistleblower would turn to the Council. It was still too close to the First Contact War and humanity was trying to get a seat on the Council. The Defense Committee was determined that whatever was going on be uncovered and stopped.

“They could have given us more information,” Shepherd muttered.

“They presumably didn’t want to be identified. If they gave us too much, it would likely be apparent who’d decided to rat. This makes it look like we’d just stumbled on it,” she said. “Though that does open up another possibility. It could be a trap.”

Kaidan nodded. “If they’re experimenting on something that violates our rights, the most likely test subjects would be our kind.”

“And it smells like weres in here,” Shepherd said. “Weres and death and...something I don’t particularly want to contemplate.”

“Standing around speculating isn’t going to get us any further,” Kate said, bracing her shotgun. “Let’s move.”

They followed her from the office, down a deserted hallway where light glared on white tile floors and soaked into bland gray walls. Shepherd didn’t protest her taking point, but she gestured for him to move ahead if he wanted. When he shook his head, she raised a brow. 

“I don’t have a problem with the female taking point,” he said. “I think the whole ‘males brawn, females brains’ thing is asinine.”

“Oh?” she asked, peering through a window inset in a thin metal door. The room inside was completely cleared out, without even a scrap on the floor. “Clear.”

They kept moving and Shepherd said, “Well, traditionally, all Alphas and betas in the pack hunted regardless of sex while the omegas remained with the young, and the male Alphas and betas ranged in search of threats while the females defended the den, right?”

“Right,” Kaidan agreed.

Shepherd shrugged a broad shoulder. “Well, then, that means that unless the males did nothing but wander aimlessly and stumble across their targets by sheer dumb luck, we must be smart enough to operate without a female in charge. And if the females were left behind to protect the den, then it means they were strong enough to be relied on as the last line of defense without one of us to help them for anything that got past the males. Which ultimately means that we’re both equally capable, and while division of labor is fine, the reasoning behind males and females being given the positions we are is nothing more than humans instilling their views onto us.”

“So, what?” Kate asked, moving ahead to look in on another empty room. “You think you should be the tactician while I lead the charge?”

“Not necessarily,” he said. “I think the division of labor should be determined by whose skills are better in which areas rather than sex. Let us work as a team in the way that works best for us rather than a predetermined set of duties.”

“Wait. _You_’re actually talking about teamwork with _me_?” she asked.

“Don’t have a choice, do I? Which means I might as well accept it and get to work.” He brushed past her, adding, “I don’t have to like you to work with you.”

Kate rolled her eyes and continued down the hall to a sliding double door at the end marked with yellow and black caution tape. The green light on the panel indicated that it was currently unlocked, but the panels overhead for drop-down turrets had Kaidan cocking his head. In natural form, the tips of his ears would have been touching. Beside her, Shepherd adjusted his grip on his shotgun and eyed the door warily. 

“Trying to keep something _in _rather than something _out_,” he said.

“But what?” Kaidan asked. “We’re not _that _strong, even in a half-shift.” 

“A pack of biotics would be,” Kate said. “The three of us could warp those doors. It would take some effort, but we could do it.”

“If this is a trap…” Shepherd trailed off.

“This is where they’ll spring it,” Kate said. “Kaidan, guard the hall. Shepherd and I will clear the area.”

“Aye aye, ma’am,” Kaidan said, eyeing the turret panels. “If the doors lock, I’ll take out the turrets and start trying to get through the doors from this side.”

“We may want to half-shift,” she said to him. “Just in case the comms cut out.” 

“You two can hear each other?” Shepherd asked. “But you’re not mated.”

“We’re pack,” Kaidan said. 

“So much for an even playing field,” Shepherd muttered, shaking his head.

Kate hadn’t planned to shift on this mission, but their armor was designed to accommodate as long as they stayed in humanoid form. She’d tried going into her natural form in it once and was still grateful that no one had witnessed her half-panicked yelping. The damn thing had _pinched _and she’d been stuck until she’d calmed down enough to change back. 

Human form to their natural one and back were simple transformations that every born wolf mastered by the time they could walk. Half-shifts weren’t so easy and most didn’t completely master the ability until puberty. The energy and focus required to maintain the delicate balance between human and wolf was substantial. It was a more effective form when extremes of strength were called for or long-distance communication was necessary and technology couldn’t facilitate, but the energy drain made it inefficient in most combat situations without a corresponding benefit unless one was regularly engaging the enemy in close quarters. She and—presumably—Shepherd used it as vanguards far more than a sentinel like Kaidan or an engineer like his mate, Jack. 

That Sheppard could do it at all was a testament to his discipline. Most made wolves lacked the pain tolerance to remain calm enough to maintain control. Their bodies weren’t the problem. The change made them identical to born wolves, though unaccustomed to the demands of shifting. It was their minds that usually tripped them up. Shifting forms was as natural as breathing to a born wolf. They didn’t fight the change. Made wolves invariably did, especially the first few times, and it _hurt_. 

She’d felt it herself when she’d been learning to half-shift. One had to fight the change to halt and redirect it. It was second-nature by now, but learning had been hell even with her pack Alpha to assist. If not for the pack Alphas, she doubted even born wolves would learn to do it. 

Kate tapped the button on her armor that loosened the clasps and allowed it to expand to accommodate the increase in size between forms. With a deep breath, she centered herself. Shepherd stood guard while she and Kaidan closed their eyes and breathed through the change. The bone-deep ache and sense of her skin becoming too tight for her body as her bones and muscle stretched and reformed lasted only a few breaths and then it was the burn in her gums and fingers as her teeth and nails extended and reshaped themselves into fangs and claws that pressed against her gauntlets, and then the searing, maddening _itch _as russet fur broke through her pores and flowed over her body. 

Shifting in armor was especially uncomfortable. Her fur sat at awkward angles, catching on the fabric of her undersuit and rubbing against the grain. Her ears were pinned to her head by her helmet and little she did worked to get them to a more comfortable position. Even with the expansion to her helmet, her muzzle pressed close to the mask. She was sure she looked an utter fool hopping and wriggling around in an effort to free her tail, but she was absolutely unwilling to have it tucked and there wasn’t room for it down the leg of her under-armor. 

At least Kaidan was stuck doing the same dance, and she’d bet Shepherd had done it more than a few times himself. Still, his amused smirk through his mask told her he was entertained. She half-heartedly bared her teeth at him, but the scowl was undercut by her tongue flopping out in relief when she finally managed to work her tail up and around her waist. None of it was ideal—most things the military designed for them weren’t—but she was used to it by now. 

She gestured for Kaidan to open the doors. They lumbered open with a puff of cool air that brought with it that strange decomposing lupine-mechanical scent and left no doubt that whatever was inside was most certainly dead. She and Shepherd passed shoulder-to-shoulder through the doors into a T-shaped hallway with glass-walled rooms attached to the arms and rows of metal doors to what could only be cells lining the leg. A wide door closed off the end of it. Kate put her back to Shepherd’s to guard their six as they prowled down the right-hand passage. The rooms were empty of people but full of various types of lab equipment. 

“Looks like a chemistry lab,” Shepherd said of the first. 

“Looks expensive,” she said. 

The second held centrifuges, platform rockers, spinners, DNA sequencers, and racks of empty phlebotomy collection tubes, and other machines she couldn’t identify. The third was accessible only via an airlock, and biosuits with breather units hung in neat rows on hooks outside the door. Shepherd took a step toward it, but Kate shook her head, pointing at the small holes in the walls and ceiling of the airlock. She would call in a science team to examine it. 

They made their way to the other end of the hall, looking in on operating rooms that could have belonged in a hospital. One looked as if it had been used recently, and the patient had not been happy about it. Surgical tools, some coated in dried blood, littered the tile floor. Used towels draped over a red wastebin. The tool tray lay on its side. An IV tube dangled from a shredded bottle. The surgical table was overturned and sitting at an angle. Splatters of blood decorated the floor, but aside from a single smear, it looked undisturbed and there were no footprints leading from the room.

The mess yielded nothing the pair could decipher, so they turned their attention to the row of cells. Each had a metal window slat near eye level that could be slid closed and a slot presumably for a food tray at the bottom. Inside the first was a metal cot with chains bolted to the floor that connected to thick metal handcuffs. A fifth chain attached to the wall and a wide steel collar rested on the bare mattress. Kate stepped aside so that Shepherd could look and crossed the hallway to the one across from it. 

_“Shepard, how you doing in there?” _Kaidan’s voice came into her head. It was soundless, but her memory provided it for her.

“All clear so far,” she answered, speaking aloud with the thought for Shepherd’s benefit. “Probably should have left Shepherd out there and had you come in, though. There’s a lot of lab equipment in here I don’t recognize and you might be able to figure out something from the ORs. Anderson’s going to need to send a science team. I think one of them is a virology lab. We didn’t go in.”

_“Probably wise, given that we don’t know what they’re working on or their procedures,” _he said. 

“Come look at this,” Shepherd said. 

She stepped up to the window of the middle cell. Unlike the other two, this one bore signs of habitation. The mattress had been dragged off of the frame and lay in the corner, its cover ripped through and stuffing spread around it. Claw marks carved deep gouges in the block wall. A metal pan, warped and decorated with teeth marks, balanced in the center of the floor near a circular drain. A water bowl lay upended nearby. Broken links of chain slinked from their bolts in the floor. Nothing but a hole remained in the wall where the collar had been affixed. 

“Looks like an animal cage,” she said softly. 

“A very unhappy animal,” Shepherd agreed from across the hall. “There’s blood smeared on the floor in this one. It looks like whatever was in there was shot and dragged out. This isn’t answering anything. We need to see what’s in that room.”

_“Still no sign of whoever runs the facility?” _Kaidan asked.

“None so far,” she answered. “Anything out there?”

_“Quiet as a mouse,” _he said. _“It’s almost creepy. What were they so afraid of?”_

Kate took a final look into the cell and shook her head. _“Whatever it is, I don’t think we’re going to like it.”_

She and Shepherd flanked the door. It was locked from the outside, and even through her armor, she could feel his rising intensity. Not quite anxiety but not quite eagerness, either, it crackled around him like dark energy, making her hackles itch. He raised the bar locking the door, and she brought her shotgun up. The door swung inward to a dark room that reeked of blood and death both old and new. 

Shepherd propped the door open and fell in behind her. Her night vision was superior to his in this form and she would be stronger as long as she could maintain it. The strain wouldn’t begin to take its toll for a few more hours yet as long as she didn’t have to overexert herself, but she was already calculating the extra calories she’d need to consume later. Shepherd activated the light on his shotgun, sweeping it around the room, illuminating an entryway with a pair of doors offset in front of them. The dead smell was stronger to the left, but the right had been haphazardly barricaded with metal tables and shelving. 

“What do you think is in there?” he whispered. 

“No idea,” she replied in kind.

They crept forward, her tail bristling and hackles itching as they attempted to fully rise. Her nose twitched behind the mask, straining for any further hint of what was behind the door. She felt deafened with her ears pinned down. Shepherd didn’t seem to hear anything out of the ordinary, though, so she hoped she wasn’t missing something vital. The next time the Alliance polled for suggestions, she was recommending ear space. Who gave a shit if it looked funny. She wanted to hear, damn it. 

Shepherd kept his shotgun at the ready as she clipped hers to her back and began shifting the makeshift barricade. The door was slightly ajar, and the scent of _meat _drifted out, mixed with that mechanical lupine scent that permeated the facility. The two odors were so closely intertwined here that there was no separating them. Werewolf, but decidedly _not _at the same time. She glanced over her shoulder at Shepherd. His weight perched on his leading leg and she imagined that if he wasn’t in human form, his teeth would be fully exposed. A rustle behind the door redrew her attention. She didn’t need to feel the air moving over her fur to pick up the shift in movement or the sense of something crouched behind it, ready to spring. 

It was rare that Kate felt real fear in the field. It happened. It happened to the boldest of them, but it didn’t happen often to her. She’d been a stray, found wandering the streets of Chicago in wolf form on a full moon, howling for a pack that didn’t answer back. Animal control had been called and she’d been taken to the pound, had woken up the following morning on the bare concrete floor of a kennel with no clothes and a shocked woman screaming for help. Something like that was unlikely to happen now, but back then, most humans had never seen a werewolf in person—that they knew of, at least. 

She’d been sent to an orphanage where she’d been passed over for adoption time and again. The other kids had called her a dog behind her back and said they should have left her at the kennel where she belonged. The headmaster had required her to be locked in a cage every full moon for fear that she’d hurt the other children. She’d run away when she was twelve and found a feral pack that called themselves the Tenth Street Reds. Or, rather, the pack Alpha, Alex, had found her. Between her time with the Reds and after being conscripted into the military, after surviving Torfan with most of her sanity intact, she’d come to believe she’d lived through the worst the galaxy had to offer and had nothing left to fear. 

She was beginning to rethink that. 

The last piece of the barricade came free and she backed up until her arm brushed against Shepherd’s shoulder. Dark energy crackled and sparked between them, feeding off of each other’s electric fields. She wished for a less restricted field, but it would be foolish to go into that _thing_’s territory in the dark. They stood silently in anxious anticipation, waiting. She could feel Kaidan in the back of her mind, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible while maintaining the connection between them. 

A scrape against the floor was their only warning before the door _exploded _outward in a blur of matted fur and glowing, unnaturally blue eyes. The thing collided with her, throwing her backward into the wall.


	4. The Jungle

_"There’s a rhythm in the buzz, pulse pounding and it’s getting loud, heavy in the air like blood. Use the pain to keep from blacking out. I’ve been mending my own cuts. Nobody seemed to hang around. But you won’t be the one to judge. I’ll be making that final sound._

_"Oh we’re here in the jungle, running right into the fire. Who’s gonna make it out alive? We’re here in the jungle. Legends are made from the fire. Yeah, this mountain gonna rumble. Tell me who’s gonna make it out alive?"_

_-'The Jungle' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Jake’s shotgun roared in the confined entryway, bucking in his hands as he pivoted to fire on the creature that had burst from the room and barreled into Shepard. She was regaining her feet, shaking her head to clear it even as her body wreathed in a shimmering blue barrier. There was no point to anything else. The space was too small. Anything she threw out was likely to catch him, too. He fired again and the thing turned its attention onto him, making him wish he’d shifted when the other two had. 

It towered over him, blue eyes shining in the darkness like nothing he’d ever seen, a trio of spheres surrounding its pupils and saliva dripping off of its maw. It slashed out with a paw laden with metal-reinforced claws that ripped through his armor and underarmor and sliced burning furrows into his skin. 

He fired again. The thing shuddered but kept coming. 

Behind it, Shepard’s shotgun boomed. It growled, kicking out behind it and catching her in the sternum. Jake barreled into it, fabricating an omni-blade and burying it to his fist in the creature’s belly. Its massive paws wrapped around his shoulders and shoved, sending him flying into the pile of discarded metal she’d moved only moments before. 

It moved faster than anything he’d ever seen. Its strength outmatched even Shepard’s half-shift. Their weapons seemed to have no effect. She ripped her helmet off, tossing it aside, and tore her gauntlets from her hand, baring her claws. Jake slapped his hand against the control for his armor and shifted on the fly, something he hadn’t attempted since he had Seth to help him channel the energy. Pain ripped through him from head to toe, but by the time he slammed into the thing, he felt his tail curl between his thighs and fur scraping against his underarmor.

He scrambled up its body. His teeth closed over the back of its thick neck, wiry fur scratching his tongue. His claws dug into the healing wound his omni-blade had created. He shoved his fist into it, locking the claws of the other hand into its shoulder for leverage. Scruffing it did nothing. 

The heart. He needed to get to the heart and rip it out. 

Shepard viciously shook her head, her teeth locked into its throat. Growls echoed off the metal walls. The creature stumbled, sending his shotgun wheeling around on the floor. Light bounced around, flashing off of the metal from the barricade. Claws buried themselves into the back of his neck and the thing jerked, attempting to dislodge him. Shepard snarled, slashing at its paw. It snapped at her head, catching her ear and ripping the tip. She yelped, but held tight. Her hand wrapped around its lower jaw and yanked. She tore her head back, coming away with a mouthful of fur that she spat out before burying her maw in the bleeding wound. 

Jake shoved his hand deeper into the cavity, hooking it under bone that felt like metal, and dug around, using his claws on everything they met. The thing bit violently at Shepard’s face and head, its paws lashing out and leaving trails of fire in their wake across the back of his neck and sides of his maw. One metallic claw caught his nose, ripping down through his lip. He bit the hand, crunching between bones that refused to give under his teeth and tearing at soft tissue.

It jerked its paw away and wrapped both around his neck. A sharp jerk dislodged him, sending him flipping over their heads and rolling across the floor. It turned its attention to Shepard, locking its claws around the back of her collar and ripping her off of it. It repeatedly slammed her face-first into the wall, its movements too fast for him to follow. Her body shook like a ragdoll. Her barrier fell, useless against the onslaught. Her hands couldn’t seem to decide whether to shield her face or claw at its paw. 

Jake threw himself back into the fray, only to be knocked back by a foot to his chest. He gasped for air. Under the snarls, a steady chant emanated from Shepard’s lips. “_Kaidan Kaidan Kaidan Kaidan_.” 

It was answered by a blur of brown and blue that barreled through the doorway, teeth bared and gleaming. The third Alpha leapt onto the thing without hesitation, a flurry of flashing teeth and claws ripping and tearing at it. It was the opening Jake needed. He lunged, wrapping a glowing hand around the thing’s arm, warping flesh and bone until it cracked beneath his fingers. Shepard fell to the floor and dragged herself out of the way. The sharp scent of fresh blood drowned out the others. The wounded sounds she couldn’t control drove the brown wolf into a frenzy and spurred Jake on. 

He jammed his hand into the thing’s side again, burying it to the elbow and groping for the thick hunk of meat that would end the creature. It had to work. It _had to_. Alenko ripped hunks of gray flesh from its neck, his teeth digging for its spine. The creature twisted and contorted, slashing and biting at them. It shook Alenko loose and he yelped as he crashed into the wall. 

Shepard launched herself at the thing’s throat again, her bloody muzzle disappearing into the rotten-smelling meat and closing over a metal cable where its trachea should have been. White fluid spurted into her face. Alenko materialized on its back again, chewing through meat and wires. Jake’s hand closed over a heart that beat far too quickly. Claws like knives slashed across his muzzle, grazing dangerously close to his eye. He dug his claws into the muscle, sending every bit of dark energy he could muster into it, and yanked just as Shepard’s head snapped back in a spray of white and Alenko’s teeth broke through its spine.

The creature collapsed, bringing them down in a heap. The three of them closed their hands over its head and twisted, ripping through organic and synthetic components alike. The head came off in a screech of metal and hit the floor with a dull thud. 

The other two Alphas dragged themselves toward each other on shaking limbs. Alenko wiped the fluid from her fur and licked at her wounded muzzle, whining softly. She leaned heavily into him, wrapping an arm around her middle and the other around his shoulders. Her tongue swiped over his cheek. Her breath came in ragged pants. 

Jake braced his hands on his knees and watched the pack display with more than a hint of envy. It had been so long since he’d had someone to provide that physical comfort they all needed so badly. He collapsed onto his ass, wincing as he landed on his tucked tail. He eyed the creature and reached for his shotgun, fighting both the urge to shift into one of his full forms and the sense of aloneness that wrapped around him, separating him from them even though they were mere feet away. 

His hand was intercepted by hers. She gave a weak tug, and he couldn’t resist. He fell into them, shivering as her tongue bathed the wounds on his face and the other Alpha bumped his nose beneath Jake’s jaw. He gave Shepard’s nose a tentative lick, and when she didn’t protest, joined Alenko in attempting to soothe her while it healed. 

“Did anyone clear the room?” Alenko asked suddenly, his head jerking around to stare warily at the open door.

“No,” Kate groaned. 

She started to roll onto her side to rise, but Alenko put a hand on her shoulder and unclipped his rifle. Shepard tipped into Jake, letting her head fall onto his shoulder, and watched the other Alpha approach the room. Jake couldn’t see much past the doorway, but he couldn’t smell any more of the creatures and figured if there had been another one, it would have joined its companion by now. He held himself ready, but checking was a matter of protocol. Alenko’s anxiety eased and Jake let himself relax into Shepard. They tiredly rubbed their cheeks together as their wounds closed. With his ears free of the helmet, he could hear the bones knitting in her maw and licked it again, calling up a soothing rumble he hadn’t made since Akuze. 

“I’m okay,” she said when Alenko crouched down and nuzzled her again. “I’m okay. Not gonna be able to hold this form much longer, though. We need to clear the other room.”

“There’s a dead body in there,” Alenko said. “Looks human. That..._thing _was...eating him. What the hell _is _it, anyway?”

“The experiment, I’d guess,” he said dully. 

Jake rose, helping Shepard to her feet. They retrieved their helmets and gauntlets and replaced them. The other two waited while he readjusted his tail and then they lined up on either side of him in front of the final door. 

It opened to reveal a cold room with a bank of closed morgue shelves lining one wall. They weren’t, however, the source of the stench. Dead humans littered the floor, their sightless eyes staring blankly. Most of them were in scrubs and bore various wounds. Given the temperature of the room, there was no way for him to judge how long they’d been dead by appearance or smell alone, but he could piece together what had happened here. 

Shepard picked her way through the room and began opening the drawers and pulling out the ones that bore bodies. More weres, some of them dead in half-shift, which he hadn’t even known was possible. Others were full wolf form. A few were in human form and two actually were human. They bore no visible wounds or signs of trauma and were fully dressed and untagged, so he guessed they’d crawled into the drawers to hide and had either succumbed to hypothermia or suffocated. 

The scientists had been performing some sort of operation on the creature and it had woken up, likely at the end given the lack of blood or visible injuries that the three of them hadn’t created, presumably before they’d planned for it to. They’d run, choosing to barricade themselves in the morgue rather than trusting that the doors to the rest of the facility would open fast enough to let them out and close again quickly enough to seal it in. 

It had pursued them and gotten into the morgue where it had attacked. By then, the security officers had likely responded, chased it into the other room, and barricaded it in before locking this area down. They hadn’t been expecting the three of them to show up. It wasn’t a trap. They’d been trying to escape. 

Jake looked around at the slaughter and couldn’t summon pity for them. They’d reaped what they’d sown. What the hell had they been thinking? What had they done to create that thing? Had it been a born were or had they created it for that purpose? Surely, no one had _volunteered _to have that done to them. Who had funded it? A fringe group, to be sure, but pro- or anti-were? Human or werewolf? That the people they’d seen here were all human didn’t mean that it wasn’t werewolf-backed. What was the goal? Stronger werewolves or human supersoldiers? 

“Joker,” Shepard said into her comm. “Send a recovery team. We’ve got bodies. Have stasis pods prepped. We’re going to need…” She cast her gaze around the room. “A dozen. Empty the cargo hold if you have to. We’re going to Vancouver.”

“Anderson’s on the Citadel,” Jake pointed out. 

“Yes, but we can’t bring these things there,” Shepard said. 

“Of course not,” Jake said, rubbing his hands over his cheeks. 

The effort of holding form and healing were slowing his mind. He was exhausted, but the wounds to his face might displace when he shifted back and the ones by his eye and mouth hadn’t finished closing yet. Shifting to heal worked, but the risk of it making things worse or healing incorrectly made it not ideal except in the direst of circumstances.

Injuries from other weres took far longer to heal than other types of damage, and healing in human form wasn’t much faster than a biological human’s. Half-shift, where their tissues were constantly attempting to simultaneously break down and repair, was where it was at for advanced healing, but it was taking its toll on all of them. Alenko cast a concerned glance at Shepard, one of his ears tipping in her direction while the other flicked back. Her muzzle was still slightly askew and her cuts had yet to even start closing. 

The damage under her hide must have been extensive. And yet she’d still come back and fought. She hadn’t waited for them to fight the battle for her, hadn’t gotten herself to safety while her team fought in her place. She wasn’t a coward like he’d thought. Why, then, had she abandoned her pack on Torfan and let them die?

That was a question for later. For now, they needed to get back to the ship before they collapsed. Joker radioed in and reported that the recovery team was on its way, so he and Alenko wrapped their arms around Shepard to support her and trudged back down the hallway between the cells. She stopped them when they reached the junction of the adjoining hall. 

“Kaidan, go take a look at those labs and operating rooms, please,” she said wearily, leaning on Jake as the other man stepped away. She fought to hold herself up, but her knees buckled, so he tightened his hold on her and took her weight. 

The other Alpha loped slowly down the hallway, sorting through the labs before returning and crossing to the other side. Shepard’s position put her head on his shoulder and her wounded muzzle against his jaw. He leaned against the wall beside one of the empty cells and gave her another lick. That thing had almost crushed her face. She pressed against him, seeking closeness, and he wrapped his free arm around her, nuzzling their cheeks together. 

She’d had a pack, however small it might be, for some time and was likely accustomed to seeking out comfort. He hadn’t had it in years and had thought he was okay without it. Getting it, though, told him otherwise. He didn’t even like her, but that didn’t matter any more than it seemed to matter to her at the moment that she didn’t like him. 

“Shepard,” Alenko called out. “Come look at this.”

They joined him in the destroyed OR. He had lifted the operating table and was crouched beside it. His golden eyes peered up at them from his chocolate fur, seeking Shepard’s attention. She released Jake and they walked around to join him. His claw traced a groove in the side of the table. 

“There’s a symbol carved in the metal,” Alenko said.

They bent down and cocked their heads so that the overhead light cast the carving into relief. An irregular elongated hexagonal shape bracketed by a pair of angled lines was crudely scratched into the surface. It looked vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn’t place it. A glance at the others told him they were as confused as he. Shepard called up her omni-tool and snapped an image of it. 

“A message, maybe,” she said. “But what? Drugged-up chicken scratch? A clue to the victim’s identity? The group that did this?”

“We’ll figure it out back on the ship,” Alenko said, coming to his feet again. He looped an arm around her waist. “You need to rest before you crash and shift back. You’re drained and I can’t hold us much longer.”

“I’m fine,” she muttered, her feet shuffling as she walked. 

Alenko rubbed a hand over his own muzzle. “I _felt _that, Kate. You are not fine. It almost killed you.”

“How worried is Jack?” she asked. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mostly shut that door when you started calling for me. He knows I’m working and he knows I’m alive. Shouldn’t be too bad for now.”

“Who’s Jack?” Jake asked. 

“My mate,” Alenko answered. “Also a Sheppard, funny enough.”

“An Alpha?” Jake asked. He’d never heard of two Alpha males mating. “Civilian?”

“No,” Alenko answered. 

“Huh,” Jake said. “I, uh, had a beta male mate, too. Soldier, like us.”

“‘Had’?” Shepard asked, glancing at Alenko.

“Had,” he confirmed tersely. He shouldn’t have brought Seth up. He didn’t want to talk to her about him. “He died.” 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. 

Thankfully, they passed the recovery team coming in and the subject dropped. Shepard straightened and gave them instruction before limping forward under her own steam until they were out of sight. He and Alenko moved in to help her the rest of the way to the ship. When she was safely ensconced in the med bay under Alenko’s and Dr. Chakwas’ watchful eyes, he made his way to the comm room to update Anderson on the mission. 

The captain listened intently to his report, the furrow between his eyebrows visible even over the QEC. When Jake was finished, he said, “Commander Shepard is right. Take the bodies to Vancouver. I’ll meet you there. Shakedown’s over. The _Normandy _is now assigned to this mission under the other Shepard’s command. We’ll discuss the details in person.”

“Aye aye, sir,” he said, trying to ignore the resentment churning in his belly.

This should have been his mission. He should be the one in command. Sure, Shepard was smart and she’d more than held her own, but the _Normandy _had been his guarantee. He’d more than earned it. He’d lost everything for the Alliance. A ship wouldn’t bring Seth or his pack back. It wouldn’t erase Akuze. But this was his shot at a new pack. He didn’t want to assimilate into hers. He wanted to create one of his own. 


	5. Rule the World

_"Waiting avalanches are the calm before the fall. Lightning, when it flashes tells the story of it all. So we keep on starting fires, thinking we'll smoke out the liars. We don't give up when we're tired. That isn't the way that I'm wired. _

_We own the future. Someday, we're gonna rule the world. Counting down to explosion, I hear the moment approaching. Someday, we're going to rule the world."_

_-'Rule the World' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Kaidan helped Kate into her bed in the spacious cabin that was one of the few concessions the Alliance provided to them. Considering the length of time they would generally spend deployed, the captain’s cabin _was _military housing, and since the two Alphas in charge were expected to—eventually—share it, it was sized and outfitted accordingly. There was a slightly smaller cabin off of the mess hall which Jack had taken, and a similar cabin off of the war room set up for traveling dignitaries that they might be called on to transport and which he was now using, but the remainder of the pack they would form would den up in the crew quarters. 

Kate groaned and gingerly probed at her face. She’d collapsed and returned to human form in the med bay, and her injuries were far more apparent now that he could see her skin. Stubborn little bitch wouldn’t let him stop to help her in the field unless she was unable to continue, so he hadn’t tried, but now he was able to fuss to his heart’s content. Her nose was still crooked, her jaw swollen, and her skin sported a sickly rainbow of color. He didn’t think he’d ever forget the sight of her hanging from that creature’s gnarled paw. If she’d been human, her skull would have been crushed. 

Jack’s impatient concern pressed against the back of his head. He hadn’t had time to contact his mate yet to fill him in, and with them both in human form, he could get little more than emotion and snips of thought that the omega forced through the pair bond. Jack was currently on leave between assignments, at home with their daughter from Jack’s first mating while his former human mate underwent an operation for...something. 

Kaidan couldn’t bring himself to care about the woman’s circumstances after the pain she’d caused Jack when he’d been turned. Like Jack had a choice about any of it. He hadn’t chosen to be turned. He hadn’t chosen to go from human Alpha to werewolf omega. None of that had mattered to Laramie, and Kaidan had yet to forgive her for it. Lyanna was with her father for now. That was the pertinent intel. He’d zoned out after that. 

Shepherd had messaged both of them after talking to Anderson, letting them know about the new mission. This one wasn’t going to be short or easy. He could feel it in his bones. The _Normandy _belonged to Kate now until or unless she died or was discharged. That meant bringing the rest of the crew into their pack. And that meant Jack had to be here. 

Six months on a shakedown run was difficult enough, but if they were running an active mission, he needed his mate. He wasn’t going to risk him not assimilating or, worse, wasting due to the separation. Kaidan and Kate had each other and Alphas generally fared better than betas or omegas, so they weren’t at risk, but a werewolf cut off from its pack was on a clock. 

Some pack Alphas wouldn’t allow another mated pair in, but that was beginning to change as their numbers dropped, and Kate had always been forward thinking. She could have kicked him out when he and Jack had made their relationship official, but she hadn’t and lone wolf status hadn’t been enough to explain it at the time. He knew she would welcome him. Shepherd, on the other hand, very well might see it as a threat even if Kaidan’s mate was an omega rather than another Alpha. Kate didn’t seem to have a problem overruling him yet, but after today, he suspected things were changing between the two. What would it mean for him and Jack once the Alpha pair became a united front?

Kaidan sat at the head of the bed, gently tugging her down into his lap to run his fingers through her hair. For now, he was the only pack she had, which meant caring for her fell to him. Fortunately, he’d gotten away relatively unscathed and his wounds had already had time to heal. He was sore but little more. By the next day’s cycle, he’d be right as rain. She rested her head on his thigh without hesitation and drew the blanket up to her chin. He wondered what Shepherd was doing now and felt a twinge of pity for the lone Alpha. Their kind wasn’t meant to function by themselves. 

As if she could hear his thoughts even in this form, Kate turned her head to look up at him. “Anderson’s going to want a list for the duty roster. I’m going to add Jack. If Shepherd doesn’t like it, he can bite my tail.”

Kaidan chuckled, fingers threading through her loose, fiery curls. “Appreciate it.”

She reached up and traced the skin over his eyebrow. “You always get a little divot right there when you’re worrying about him. It’s kinda cute.”

“Uh huh,” he grinned. “Whatever you say.”

“And don’t you forget it,” she said with a smirk. “Aside from our favorite omega, any recommendations on the roster?”

He cocked his head, considering. “Steve Cortez. Remember him? The omega pilot from the _Tokyo_? We’re going to need a shuttle pilot and he’s the best.”

“He was flying Tridents, wasn’t he?” she asked.

“Yeah, but he also dropped us a time or two.”

She shook her head. “I’ll take your word for it. We had so many omegas on the _Tokyo _that I couldn’t really keep up with who was who unless they were one of ours. And I was still a little...you know.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “You’ll really buck Shepherd if you need to?”

“Of course,” she said. “You’ll probably have to agree to give up breeding rights, but it isn’t like any of us are really trying. It just means he’ll delay your ruts so they don’t match up with the heat cycle.” She must have seen something in his expression because she sat up and peered at him. “You _are _trying! How long? How the hell did you get him to agree to that?”

He felt the backs of his ears heat and looked away. “Well, we aren’t exactly _trying_, but we’re not avoiding it, either. He, ah…” he rubbed the back of his neck, “hasn’t taken yet. It’s...it’s been a couple heats now, and I know it can take awhile, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe there’s something wrong. Maybe eezo exposure affected my fertility or the change from Alpha to omega was incomplete for him. God knows he doesn’t look or act like a typical omega.”

"You wouldn’t change a bit of him,” she said, a slight furrow appearing between her brows. “Have you seen a doctor for it? Maybe it’s not because of the change. I know omega males have the equipment, but how often do you see them pregnant?”

“How often do you see _any _omegas pregnant?” he countered. “Alphas don’t mate with them, so it’s not like there’s a lot of information out there. We’re charting new territory here. I’m trying to be patient, but I’ve got Mom breathing down my neck for pups and getting hopes up heat after heat…” He sighed. “It’s alright. I don’t think he’s really ready yet anyway, so I’m not pushing. Going to a doctor would just freak him out. I just...keep thinking that if it does happen, he’ll adjust and be okay with it. You know how he is. He can adapt to anything. But it’s touchy enough that we’re doing the ‘if it happens, great; if not, that’s fine, too,’ thing. And I guess it doesn’t matter anyway if I’m not pack Alpha.”

The line between her eyebrows deepened. “You know...it’s not like Shepherd and I are destined to mate. Us being pack Alphas is a technicality, and that’s assuming he doesn’t leave when Anderson officially gives the _Normandy _to me. Which means there’s no real reason to deny breeding rights except tradition.”

“Kate,” he chided, trying to stem the leap of hope that fluttered in his chest. “You know he’s not going to allow it. He’s already feeling like he’s out of control and pack Alpha in name only. If he gives me breeding rights, he’ll essentially be abdicating his position. I’m not...just don’t be surprised if he says no.”

Kaidan loved his stepdaughter, Lyanna. The girl was smart and considerate, a joy to be around. But she was human, which meant she wasn’t allowed to live with them. Laramie had made sure of that. He didn’t want to replace Lyanna. He simply also wanted the experience of raising a child from infancy with his mate. He wanted to carry on the Alenko line, to do what he could to prevent his species from its impending extinction. 

Granted, the idea of _Jack, _of all people, being with child was one he couldn’t quite visualize. Human male omegas did it all the time. Among weres, it was likely to be another stigmatizing point for them. 

There was no reason he could see for it not to work, though. Jack’s cycles were normal. The humans were built essentially the same way and they could do it. Presumably, it should happen eventually. Even Alpha females didn’t always take on the first heat and some took far longer than that, and they were the pairing known for their fertility. He was just expecting too much too quickly, that was all. Patience. He needed patience.

Breeding rights for active duty secondary Alphas had to be approved by the Alliance anyway. He’d need both Sheps’ help with that and it still might not work. They were useful to the Alliance, but only to a point. Without fresh bloodlines, they were rapidly approaching the point where their population would be unsustainable and the Alliance knew it. They still insisted maintaining control over breeding. There was a were in charge of the program, but he’d seen little headway. 

_They breed us like dogs_, he thought bitterly. _Bloodlines, health checks, temperament, performance, the whole nine yards. Just like dogs. That’s all we are to them. Sapient K9 units._

Kate laid her head back down and Kaidan continued to pet her until she fell asleep. Her nose slowly began to merge back into alignment and the bruises began to fade. He slipped from beneath her and crept out of the room. He would send a message for Jack to meet him in Vancouver as soon as he was able. He hated cutting into his mate’s time with his daughter, but this was vital. If Laramie hadn’t recovered yet, Lyanna could stay with Kaidan’s parents. They adored the girl and Lyanna liked the orchard. Kaidan had spent most of his childhood summers there with his grandparents and they were some of the happiest memories he had. 

He sighed and leaned a shoulder against the elevator wall. He’d had the fortune of having both parents with him his entire life. Lyanna hadn’t had that. She probably wouldn’t be as happy about the idea of getting sent there as Kaidan had always been. Yet another reason he hadn’t been pushing for a baby no matter how much he might want one. One or both of them would have to give up their career, at least until the pup was old enough to accompany them to duty stations and they had a pack big enough to support young. It was best to wait. Really. Besides, they had bigger deer to take down.

That creature had been grotesque, a horrific mix of organic and synthetic. Surely, that _thing _hadn’t been the end goal of whatever project was being run there. What they could be doing that could go that wrong, he didn’t know. That symbol on the operating table niggled at the back of his mind. He was certain he’d seen it before, and he could _almost _place it. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult for Alliance intel to figure it out, though. There were plenty of terrorist organizations, but ones as well-funded as that project appeared and who had an interest in weres were much rarer. They weren’t fumbling completely in the dark.

* * *

Kate picked up a datapad from the coffee table in her cabin and skimmed over the dossiers that she, Kaidan, and Shepherd had put together. Kaidan sat on her side of the couch reviewing the supply list, and Shepherd sprawled with an arm stretched along the backside against the wall that separated the living quarters from the office while he compiled run reports from the various departments on the ship. They were due in Vancouver the following day, which meant that requisitions, crew rosters, performance reports, and the various other tasks required for the ship to go active with a full contingent had to be done most motherfuckin’ ricky-tick.

Joker, Navigator Pressly, Dr. Chakwas, Engineer Adams, and the remainder of the support staff would be staying. They were familiar with the ship and had done an outstanding job thus far. She didn’t see a point to replacing them with soldiers who didn’t know the _Normandy _or her command. The list for the additional crew was a long one, and she began cutting the obvious ones. 

They didn’t need anyone with a disciplinary history or anyone who hadn’t served on a ship of some kind. Those with less than top secret classification were an easy nix as well. The _Normandy _itself contained highly classified design elements and not just anyone could be allowed to come aboard. She prioritized combat experience even for the omegas. They may not have been actively engaged, but they still provided direct support and she didn’t need crewmembers who were at risk of panicking the moment general quarters was called. High speed, low drag was the name of the game. 

“I want to talk about these names,” she said when she’d pared it down to a reasonable number. The other two put down their data pads and turned their attention onto her. “Jack Sheppard is pack for us and Alenko’s mate. He’s also a damn fine soldier and a good man to have at your six. His inclusion is non-negotiable.”

“Okay,” Shepherd said slowly. “Then so is Ashley Williams. I rescued her when her team got taken out on Eden Prime and promised her I’d make sure she was on my next permanent crew.”

“General Williams’ granddaughter?” Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Kate,” Kaidan said. “I’ve worked with her. She’s a hell of a soldier and we’d be lucky to have her.”

“Alright,” she agreed with a nod, checking the box beside Williams’ name. 

“What are your thoughts on the ground team I put together?” Shepherd asked.

Kate reviewed the dossiers. Lieutenant James Vega, N5 beta, was currently part of Delta Squad, an N-team under a solo Alpha named Captain Toni, and had been for three years, but had yet to settle down with the pack and make it a permanent posting. He’d received commendations for his actions on Fehl Prime against a group of krogan mercenaries. His evals consistently stated that he was dutiful, intelligent, loyal, and hard-working, but recent reports indicated that he was dissatisfied with guard duty and had requested a transfer. 

“Vega, yes,” she said.

Lieutenant Liam Kosta, another beta, had served first in law enforcement with the Alliance and then in a multi-species crisis response division. According to the police force, he was a hothead with a dozen suspensions over a two year period. However, HUS-T1, the crisis response group, said he regularly questioned ideas but never orders, and was a master at thinking outside the box to get shit done. He reportedly excelled in all conditions. It seemed he’d just needed to find the right fit. As long as the _Normandy _fit him just as well, she liked him already. He had experience working not only with Council races but others as well. Outreach and crisis response would be necessary if—or when—the shit hit the fan.

“Kosta, yes.”

Lieutenant Cora Harper, who was also a beta, was currently on loan to the asari and had done a stint with the Council’s Valkyrie program. Her biotics rivaled the three of theirs, but her reported need for steady leadership had prevented her from being granted her own command. How she’d managed to succeed while embedded with another species away from her pack was a mystery, but her willingness to work with them would make her a good liaison to the asari, which they very well might need should news of the terrorists’ activities come to light. 

“Harper, yes.”

Corporal Richard Jenkins was one of Kaidan’s recommendations, and here she hesitated. There was very little information available on him thus far. He was, like all of the other combatants but for the three of them, a beta, but he was barely more than a pup, green as grass and still wet behind the ears. She enjoyed teaching, but this was no training mission suitable for a rookie. Kaidan had spoken highly of him in the single assignment they’d had together, but given the skill levels of the others and the size of the ground team she preferred, she just couldn’t see herself using him.

“Jenkins, no. Sorry, Alenko. He’d be better served on a less sensitive mission until he gets more experience.”

“I understand,” Kaidan said. 

“Kane Ryder, hmm?” she said, moving on to Shepherd’s next name on the list. “It just so happens I requested his twin sister, Kade.” 

Kaidan leaned forward, his brow furrowing. “I’m not so sure about the Ryders, Shepard. Their mother pioneered bioamp research, but I’ve heard some concerning rumors about their father and illegal AI research being the reason he was dishonorably discharged.”

“They’ve been all but blacklisted because of it,” Shepherd said. “They’re both betas. It makes sense that they’d want to remain in a pack together but abdicate from their father’s. Kane’s young, but he’s spent years guarding Relay 202, which means he’s accustomed to constant action. He has no black marks on his own record. Give him a chance.” 

“And Kade was a peacekeeper,” Kate added. “She’s also worked closely with the scientists doing Prothean research and would be ideal for our science team.” 

Kaidan nodded slowly. “The more distance between them and Alec Ryder, the better. Let him be seen as a lone rogue rather than supported by the rest of our kind. The damage he could do….”

“I’m not convinced AI research _should _be illegal,” Kate said. “It’s certainly not a were rule and it isn’t even a human one. That particular restriction was posed by the aliens.”

“Well, just look at the quarians and their history with the geth,” Kaidan pointed out. “I mean, that’s a cautionary tale if I’ve ever heard one.”

“Yes, but it’s _one _example,” she said. “And that was hundreds of years ago. From what I understand, geth haven’t been seen beyond the Veil in centuries. You assume that we would make the same mistakes they did. I’m not worried about the associations. If we’re going to overlook Williams’ family ties, I can’t justify not doing it for the Ryders as well.” 

“Agreed,” Shepherd said, hooking an ankle over his knee. “I’m go for Kade if you approve Kane.”

“Deal,” she said. “That takes care of our marine detachment and one of our science officers. The other I’ve suggested is Dr. Suvi Anwar. She’s an astrophysicist, but more importantly, a molecular biologist. She’d be the ideal beta to lead the science team.”

“I’ve read some of her papers,” Kaidan said. “She’s brilliant.”

“Sounds good to me,” Shepherd said. 

Kate marked the name and passed the datapad to him. Easier for him to read for himself since she’d already thoroughly vetted all of them. Samantha Traynor, an omega and her pick for comms officer, had spent most of her time in a lab but had come highly recommended and was already on Kate’s shortlist. Shepherd approved her before consulting with Kaidan on the omegas Adams had recommended for the engineering team.

Adams had served with Gabriella Daniels and Kenneth Donnelly on the _Perugia _and said that Daniels knew propulsion theory better than most physicists. She had approached him when rumors started about the _Normandy _and requested that he recommend the pair for a transfer. According to Adams, Daniels was professional while Donnelly was a bit more of ‘a handful.’ The latter had almost been court-martialed for insubordination, but Adams insisted that Donnelly had merely been standing up for something he believed in and was in the right. He called him a talented individual whose skills increased dramatically when paired with Daniels. 

The third member of the team was Kate’s own pick. She’d known Gil Brodie from her days with the Reds. The boy had been their go-to for transportation acquisition...a shuttle and skycar thief in plainer words. When they’d needed transport, Gil would break into a scrapyard, spend a few hours tinkering with discarded shuttle engines, and come back with a working vehicle. He’d gotten caught at eighteen and forced to join the Alliance. Kate had kept in sporadic contact with him since. It only seemed right that she bring him along if she was forming a permanent pack. She was just glad they hadn’t needed an engineer on Torfan. Gil was the last piece of her old life left.

“I don’t know about this Brodie fellow,” Shepherd said. “He’s got a record and he hasn’t stayed with one pack for more than a few months at a time. His supervisors also report that he lacks respect for authority and tends to eschew orders when it suits him.”

“And he gets away with it because it works,” she said. “He made up for his crimes and has no disciplinary actions beyond captains’ masts. He’s a damn prodigy, Shepherd. Hell, he was part of the team who designed the Tantalus drive core. They couldn’t have made it work without him. He belongs on the _Normandy _.”

“Alright,” Shepherd said doubtfully. “Adams seems to agree with you, so I’ll green-light him. But if he causes problems, that’s on you. Never met an omega who doesn’t respond to authority before. Should be interesting.”

Kate and Kaidan exchanged a look and a half-hidden smirk. Shepherd was going to have his hands full between Gil and the third member of their pack. Jack wasn’t exactly known for kowtowing, either. Gil’s problem was that he was generally so much smarter than the Alphas he served under that he had a difficult time submitting to their lead. Kate had no doubt she could bring him to heel. She knew how he thought and she trusted his judgment. Adams was reasonable and had a tendency to listen to his people’s ideas. 

Gil was going to fit in just fine. Besides, it would get him away from Jill, an Alpha he’d befriended who’d decided for some reason that he would be the perfect breeding partner. Never mind that Gil was utterly uninterested in females of the species and had never expressed desire for a mate, much less pups. 

Jill had somehow managed to convince the Alliance to put her in charge of what Kaidan called the ‘werewolf breeding project.’ Kate supported her mission, but the execution rubbed Kate’s fur the wrong way. The woman believed that all weres should be breeding in order to increase the population, regardless of their gender or their sexual preferences. Omega males could in theory impregnate any female or another male omega, but that didn’t mean that Gil should be guilted into it.

The last two on the list were shuttle pilots. Steve Cortez from the _Tokyo_, and Reyes Vidal. She’d brushed up on Cortez’ history after Kaidan had put his name forward. Cortez, an omega, had recently lost his beta mate. He’d spent several years in the Alliance and had been posted on Fehl Prime with Vega and on the _Hawking _before that. His evals were impeccable, describing him as considerate, soft-spoken, and cool under fire. He was touted as being aggressive while in combat on board one of his Tridents, but the consummate omega when on deck or land. 

Vidal was Joker’s suggestion. According to Moreau, he was ‘a slippery bastard you can’t quite get a grip on, too smart for his own good, but ultimately a good guy and a hell of a pilot.’ One of his commanders had reported suspicions of smuggling, but the accusations had proved unfounded. As long as he kept his hands clean while on her ship, Kate was willing to bring him on as a backup for Cortez.

“Alright,” she said. “We have a crew.”

“That calls for a drink,” Jake said, pulling out a bottle of whiskey. Jameson, a favorite of both her and Kaidan. 

She went to the office and fetched a trio of glasses from one of the drawers and another bottle from a different one. One bottle wouldn’t do shit for three biotic werewolves. Kaidan poured and Kate held up her glass. 

“To the _Normandy_,” she said.

“_Normandy_!” they repeated.

Three hours later, they were piled up together on the bed in a tangle of limbs with a movie playing over the glass of the display case, which doubled as a vid screen. Kaidan was curled up beside her with an arm around her waist, snoring softly, and Jake had his head on her shoulder, more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. Her fingers circled absent circles over his scalp and his cheek rubbed against her chest. 

She’d missed this after Torfan, the easy camaraderie of a contented pack. She’d lain this way with Alex and Kaidan more times than she could count and later with Kaidan and Jack. After she’d been released from the brig, the three of them had spent almost a week in close physical contact, reconnecting with Kaidan and getting to know Jack. 

The omega had been hesitant at first and uncertain about someone else sleeping in bed with him and his mate. Humans didn’t puppy pile the way weres did. But after the first night and getting to experience the comfort of an omega denning up with his pack alphas, Jack had been the one to toss a third pillow onto the bed the second evening. He’d especially come to enjoy when Kate and Kaidan would sleep in natural form and curl up around him, ensconcing him in a pile of warm fur. He couldn’t maintain wolf form in his sleep, so she’d found herself feeling even more protective of the seemingly delicate omega when they did that.

It was different with Jake because he wasn’t pack yet, but she knew how hard it was to be a solo Alpha and it didn’t surprise her that he gave himself over to physical contact when she allowed him to join in. They needed it, and if they didn’t have a pack to give it to them, they’d take it wherever they could find it. 

She rubbed her temple against the top of his head and felt a rush of heat that wasn’t entirely due to the alcohol wash over her core when he nuzzled at her jaw and behind her ear. His palm flattened on her belly, soft lips brushing her skin. She turned her head to ask what he was doing and their lips met. The question died in the back of her throat, overtaken by a sudden _need _that sent fire racing through her veins.

Jake groaned when she responded, his thigh sliding between hers and his fingers tracing the waistband of her pants. Behind her, Kaidan stirred, his arm tightening around her as he shifted closer, responding to her desire even in his sleep. That might be a problem. It wouldn’t if they were pack, but two Alphas who weren’t pack were more likely to fight than to respond favorably to each other. 

Her worry faded to the back of her mind when Jake’s hand slipped between her thighs and Kaidan’s drifted up to cup her breast. Her fingers tightened in Jake’s hair, her other hand coming to rest on his hip, her thumb tracing the line of the bone. Her ass pushed back against Kaidan’s groin, making her wonder how they were going to manage the logistics. With Jack, it was easy and there were multiple options. With two Alphas with knots and her with only one pocket and no toys close at hand, the odds of fighting increased. 

“Wait,” she whispered. 

He drew back, looking at her through glazed eyes that shifted between her and Kaidan, noting the hand on her breast. “Guessing you didn’t feel the need to bring toys on this mission. And his and mine are in our cabins,” he said quietly. “And I’m not your pack, so there’s every chance he’ll wake up and try to rip my throat out.”

“Mm, more worried about you trying it with him,” she said, pulling his head back to her shoulder, not wanting to lose the contact just yet. “He tends to be reasonable rather than reactionary. Still. Rain check?”

“Yeah. I think so,” he said, nuzzling his cheek against her chest again and massaging between her legs for another breath before moving his hand back to her belly. “I’m not looking for another mate, though.”

“Neither am I,” she said. “That’s why K, Jack, and I work so well together.” 

It had taken awhile for them to figure things out. At first, Jack had put his foot down and said no when he’d learned that Kaidan and Kate had ridden their heats and ruts out together out of convenience before she’d bonded with Alex and that when Alex had come along, he’d agreed to Kaidan delaying his ruts so that she could go through it with both of them. However, after an experience with both Kate and Jack going through an unfulfilled heat when Kaidan had been unavailable and she’d still been too out of it to delay his, he’d joked that next time Kaidan left them alone, they’d just take care of things together. 

Kaidan had presented the idea that they could all do it together the next time, and it wouldn’t even require delaying anyone’s heat or rut. Kate’s internal knot could stimulate Jack and it didn’t matter to her whether she did the knotting or was knotted, so the two Alphas could knot him together. He hadn’t responded that evening and when he didn’t bring it up again, Kate and Kaidan assumed that he was opposed to the idea, but the following month, he’d sat them down and said he wanted to try it outside of heat first. They’d been open sexually ever since, though there was no romantic feeling between them and her and they remained a closed unit emotionally.

“Don’t see any reason why we can’t be pack and take some comfort in each other, then, do you?” he asked. Despite the casualness of his words, there was a vulnerability to his tone and his scent held an undertone of anxiety. 

“I thought you didn’t like me,” she said quietly, continuing to stroke his hair.

“You may be starting to grow on me a little,” he conceded with a grin.

Asking to join the pack was a big step for him. It was inevitable if he wanted to stay, but that he’d requested acceptance before the connection had formed instinctively required some humility and the admission that he didn’t want to be alone anymore, which wasn’t looked down on with them the way that it was with some humans but still wasn’t easy to admit when one wasn’t certain of the reception. 

“I think we can manage that,” she said, rubbing her jaw over his temple to scent mark him. 

He heaved a sigh and sank deeper into her arms. Kaidan’s came around to encompass him as well. She could feel Jack’s uncertain acceptance in the back of her mind. 

_And then there were four._


	6. New Blood

_"I spent my whole life chained to the wall hungry for more. Not afraid to fall. _

_I had to cut a man down to get where I am, but someone had to tumble and someone had to stand._   
_Don’t try to fight, nothing you can do. I’m gonna run all over you. Its too late to try, nothing you can do. _

_I_ _’m looking for new blood, and nothing can stop me now."_

_-'New Blood' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Kaidan stood in Anderson’s office at Vancouver HQ with Kate and Shepherd. They had left the skeleton crew they’d been running with at the ship with their bags packed and stacked in the cargo hold in preparation for the shakeup. The crew knew that something was going on, but didn’t know yet who would stay and who would go. Kate did like to keep them on their toes. The new crewmembers would be gathering at the docks in a few minutes, ready for their new assignment.

He had been impressed by how smoothly putting together the duty roster had gone. It seemed that facing down the creature together had convinced them that they could cooperate if nothing else. And then to wake up this morning and find that their pack had grown by one was a shock, though not unexpected. It just left them all feeling their way through being a war pack with three Alphas instead of two. Not unheard of, but not common enough for them to have an intrinsic understanding of how it should work. In family packs, the hierarchy would be clear and based on generation. His parents were both Alphas and they led the pack. He was a third Alpha, but he didn’t lead and wouldn’t until or unless he and Jack reproduced or his parents died. There wasn’t such a clear system with unrelated Alphas.

Captain Anderson cleared his throat and stood behind his desk as the door opened and admitted Admiral Hackett himself. They snapped to attention and waited for Hackett to put them at ease before resuming their seats. The admiral sat in Anderson’s chair with his fingers steepled in front of him, looking at the datapad on the desk. Presumably, it held the meager intel they’d been able to gather from the facility. Their reports had been pitifully bereft of anything that seemed useful. 

“Alright,” Hackett said after a long moment. “Let’s get down to it. The symbol you found has been run through the database. It didn’t match with any known groups. That tells us we’re likely dealing with a new player. However, given the level of sophistication of the facility, they’ve already got a backer who’s pouring some serious funding into them.”

“I’ve got our financial analysts attempting to locate the money trail,” Anderson said. 

“Good,” Hackett nodded. “Your reports said you saw signs that there were at least two of the creatures, but your recovery team didn’t locate the body of the second. We have analysts going over the terminals recovered from the lab. The research data wasn’t just wiped. It was removed. I think it’s highly unlikely that this is the only facility they had.”

“Agreed, sir,” Kate said. “They wouldn’t just destroy it all and give up. Not after the effort they put into the project. And despite the fact that they were trying to escape from it, we don’t know whether they considered the creature a failure or a success.”

Shepherd added, “If they do have multiple labs, that implies a large-scale project. Just one almost managed to take the three of us down. If they have more...someone very well could be creating their own personal army. But for what cause?”

“We don’t know,” Anderson said. “That’s part of what you’re going to find out.” 

Hackett said, “I’ve put a team together to...would it be an autopsy or a necropsy in this case? Doesn’t matter. I’ve got a team looking at the creature you brought back. They should hopefully have some information for us in a couple of days. Preliminary reports suggest that it was a created were, but that its DNA has mutated somehow. They’re still trying to figure out how it was even able to move with all of that tech inside it.”

Anderson added, “Another team is doing autopsies on the victims you found.”

Kaidan had to hold back a snort. _Victims_. Right. They’d fallen prey to the monster they’d created. If he believed in karma, he’d say it had worked. Probably not the kindest way to look at it, but the damn thing had almost killed the three of them. Victims of their own hubris, perhaps. 

How could someone do something like that to another person? Had they honestly believed they were doing the right thing? How did a person justify creating that kind of monster?

Hackett sighed. “What it boils down to is that we don’t have shit to go on yet. We’ve approved your crew requests and have assigned the new team to the ship. Anderson has sent the duty roster to your omni-tools. I trust there won’t be any issues having three Alphas aboard?”

“No, sir,” Shepherd answered.

“And you two have worked out your differences, I hope?” Anderson asked.

“Yes, sir,” they answered in unison. 

Hackett spread his hands to either side of the forgotten datapad. “I need you to get out there and gather intel. Figure out who did this and what the hell they want. And then stop it. I cannot stress _enough _the damage this would do to humanity if the Council got wind that someone was creating these things. On a more personal note, if this leaks to the general public, it will set back relations between humans and weres by decades at best. Our relationship with the Alliance is far from perfect, but it’s the best it’s ever been. We do not need to give the humans a reason to fear us any more than they already do.”

“Understood, sir,” Kate said.

“Alright.” Hackett stood. “You’ve got your assignment. Get out there and make it happen.”

Once dismissed, the trio made their way to the docking bay where the _Normandy _waited with her new crew. They milled around the cargo bay with their shore bags stacked somewhat haphazardly in the center. Some sat on crates with decks of cards. Others openly speculated about the situation. A few simply waited quietly. The wind shifted, carrying the scent of his mate to him before he saw him, and he bit back a smile. It wouldn’t do to have the new crew’s first image of him be a goofy love-struck grin. He caught sight of him leaning against the bulkhead with his arms crossed over his chest and an ankle hooked over the other. 

Jack straightened as they approached and announced, “Attention! Officers on deck!”

Cards dropped onto the crates and boots shuffled over the deck as the others jumped to attention, waiting eagerly for their orders. Jack’s eyes flicked to his and Kaidan winked surreptitiously at him. In a few minutes, they’d be reunited. As he’d expected, Shepherd had insisted on control of his ruts, but surprisingly hadn’t otherwise objected to having another mated pair under his command. He still assumed Jack was a beta. It would be interesting—and telling—to see his reaction when he realized the truth.

Kate stepped forward and eyed the existing crew. “You guys got your bags packed?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they answered. A few shoulders slumped and Adams shot her a confused glance.

“Well, take them up and unpack them. You’ll be staying with us,” she said with a hint of a grin. “As for the rest of you, welcome to the _Normandy_. Our mission is to identify, locate, and destroy the terrorist cell responsible for creating an abomination. We intend to do just that. Our species and culture are at stake.”

Shepherd pulled up his omni-tool and said, “I’ve posted the hot-bunking schedule in the crew quarters. Your team leads are as follows. Marine detachment: Lieutenant Alenko. Science team: Dr. Suvi Anwar. Engineering: Engineer Adams. Flight crew: Flight Lieutenant Moreau…”

Kaidan let the list flow over him and fixed his eyes on Jack. Six damn months they’d been apart. He was almost vibrating with the need to be close to him. None too soon, the commanders dismissed the crew. The rest fell out and collected their shore bags, squeezing into the elevator. Jack, however, made no move to leave. Kate caught his eye and gestured with her head before turning to Shepherd. As pack Alpha, she had the right to be addressed first, but it had been just the three of them for so long that they no longer stood on ceremony. 

Kaidan held himself to a restrained walk as he crossed the cargo bay. His nostrils flared, drinking in the scent that had simply come to mean ‘home’ to him. He glanced at the other two, who were deep in conversation over Shepherd’s omni-tool. With them sufficiently distracted, he closed the gap and slid his arms around Jack. 

“Hey, baby.” 

“Hey, Alpha.” The omega glanced at the other two before shrugging and kissing along his jaw, his fingers sliding into Kaidan’s belt loops to hold him close. 

“I missed you,” Kaidan replied, walking him backwards into the shadows between two stacks of crates before hooking a hand around his neck and gently tugging his head forward to press their foreheads together. He dragged his nose behind Jack’s ear, breathing deep, and shuddered at the scent of his omega.

“I missed you, too, K,” his mate replied, relaxing into him with a shiver and a relieved sigh. 

Kaidan groaned and grazed his teeth over the other man’s shoulder. _What happened to self-control, Kaidan? _he scolded himself. _Six long damn months apart, that’s what happened. _His arms tightened around the omega, bringing their bodies together. 

He nipped lightly at his ear before whispering, “We have our own cabin.”

“Oh, I think we should go check that out. _Now,_" came the warm reply as his tongue flicked behind Kaidan's ear. 

Kaidan rumbled deep in his chest and slid his hands to Jack’s hips, holding both of them steady. If the damn man didn’t stop teasing him, he was going to do something _very _unprofessional. Kate and Shepherd’s murmured voices and Shepherd’s musky scent wouldn’t let him completely forget that they weren’t alone, though. That was something he intended to rectify. 

“You are incorrigible,” he muttered against the side of Jack’s neck. “Go acknowledge Kate before I entirely lose my manners. But just know that if Shepherd cops a feel because you smell like sex, I might end up scruffing my pack Alpha.”

“That probably wouldn’t be good for morale. Don't worry, though. If it goes badly for you, I'll protect you,” the omega teased with a wink.

Kaidan snorted. “Oh, you _will_, hmm? Bratty omega.” He slid his hand along the other man’s jaw and pulled him in for a quick kiss. “But you’re _my _bratty omega, and that’s what matters.”

“You know it,” Jack teased, his hand lingering on Kaidan’s hip before he turned towards the other Alphas. “You can show me how much you appreciate me later.” 

Kaidan wrapped an arm around Jack’s waist and hooked a finger in his belt loop, eyeing Shepherd. Logically, he knew that while Jack smelled like absolute heaven to him, the other Alpha would be polite enough not to respond to it. Logic didn’t matter much when they’d been apart for as long as they had and hadn’t yet gotten to be alone. 

The omega strode towards Kate. He grinned at her and debated for a moment before shrugging and grabbing her around the waist, lifting her off her feet and playfully nudging under her jaw with his nose. 

Kate laughed, bracing her hands on his shoulders and rubbing her chin back and forth over Jack’s hair. “Bad enough most Alphas are taller than me. How’d I manage to get stuck with the biggest omega any of us has ever seen as a packmate?”

“Dumb luck,” he chuckled, “With all our technology, you'd think they'd have found a solution for short Alphas by now.” 

“Uh huh,” she said warmly. “Feisty omega. Keep that up and I’ll have you swabbing decks. We'll see who's shorter then.”

“You just want to see my ass,” he teased.

Kate grinned. “Always do, babycakes. I suppose we should get introductions out of the way. Jack Sheppard, this is Commander Shepherd. Or ‘the other other Shep’ as Kaidan’s taken to calling him. Shepherd, this is Jack. Alenko’s mate.”

“Nice to meet you,” Shepherd said, careful to keep his distance. “You’re, uh... You’re an omega.”

Kaidan’s arm returned to Jack’s waist; he could feel the tension rising in his mate’s stiffening back and prayed to Luna he wouldn’t bristle at the new Alpha. “He is. Is that a problem?”

“No,” Shepherd said slowly, looking between them. “I’ve just...never seen that particular configuration before. That explains some things. Welcome to the crew, uh, Sheppard. That’s going to get even more confusing than it already was.”

“Yeah, but think how easy it’ll be for the crew to get our attention. They say ‘Shepard,’ and they’ll have all of us perking up,” Kate said lightly.

Kaidan relaxed his hold, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. The other Alpha’s reaction wasn’t what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the first time Shepherd had thrown him for a loop.

“Sir…” Jack replied, grin fading as he eyed Kaidan and Shepherd.

Even though it had been a few years since Torfan, Jack still occasionally found it difficult to ascertain the proper omega responses in body language. A lifetime as a human Alpha had made dominance displays second nature to him and he still had to fight those in addition to his pride, which still held a human view of omegas as weaker.

Shepherd shot the omega a curious look before glancing at Kate. “Well. I’ll just leave you three to it. Mind if I come up later to discuss the plan?”

“We have a plan?” she asked. “Yeah. The door’ll be unlocked.”

Shepherd nodded and walked past them to the elevator. Kaidan moved with Jack as he shifted to keep the other Alpha in sight until he’d boarded the lift and was gone.

“Well, that wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” the omega muttered, giving a slow exhale as tension drained from his shoulders again. “Is he always so laid back?”

Kaidan smirked and shook his head. “You weren’t here the first couple weeks. He and Kate circled each other for days on end, just looking for a weakness. He’s been more easygoing since they worked out a rhythm, but he still gets in his moods sometimes. He still isn’t completely happy she’s in charge even if he has accepted her as co-Alpha.”

“At least he’s keeping his biotics damped now. He set my teeth on edge for awhile there,” Kate said. She flashed a grin at Jack. “I’m glad you’re home. It isn’t a full pack without you here.” 

Jack wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up in a bear hug again before setting her on a crate. “Missed you, too, spitfire. Have you been keeping him out of trouble for me?”

“Anything for you, Ace,” she said, taking a playful swipe at him with her hand for manhandling her. “Seriously, though. Good to have you back. How’d Lyanna take it?”

“Just fine,” the omega said. "She's having the time of her life at the orchard with K's parents and that Husky she loves so much. I think he reminds her of Roscoe."

Kaidan smiled at him and wrapped his arms around Jack’s waist from behind. “I’m sure Mom and Dad will love having her there. And Kama will appreciate having someone to play with. Jaime and Lolita are getting too old to run around with him. Wish I could have seen it. I was hoping we’d get the chance to go by before we leave, but Hackett wants us out of dock ASAP.”

Kate hopped off of the crate. “And on that note, I’m going to leave you two to get settled. I need to go make sure the rest of the crew is ready to go. Dignitary’s quarters are off of the war room. You have to deal with the biometric scanners to go in and out, but I figured that was a small price to pay for privacy. If we end up transporting anyone entitled to it, you’ll have to find somewhere else for the time being, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem if you leave most of your stuff in there even then. It’s just got a double bed sized for us, but it’s better than a rack.”

“Works for me,” the omega said, suppressing a tiny shiver. 

Kaidan reluctantly stepped back, letting his fingers trail along the other man’s waist as he did. Kate waved and headed for the elevator without waiting for them. He would be damn glad to get his mate to himself. Being separated wasn’t something they were accustomed to since the Alliance made an effort to keep mated pairs together, but he’d still worried that something would go wrong to keep Jack from being allowed to join them. As the cargo bay door slid closed behind them, the last of his tension drained away. The mission was likely to be complicated and there was a lot riding on them, but at least they’d see it through together.

* * *

“Alright, that’s got disciplinary shit taken care of,” Shepherd said, switching the screen on his datapad. “And now duty rosters.”

“My heat’s coming up,” Kate said, glancing up at him from her side of the couch in her cabin. Kaidan mentioning them being separated for six months had reminded her that she was due. 

“Shit,” Shepherd groaned. “That complicates things. We’re going to have to schedule shore leave.”

“We can’t,” she said. “We can’t just take a break front the whole op because we want to get laid.”

Shepherd tossed the datapad onto the table. “Have you ever been through a heat with an unbonded Alpha male in your pack? What about with two Alphas, regardless of bonded status?”

“Not since Kaidan and Jack got together.” 

He shook his head. “It won’t be easy. I’ll delay Alenko going into rut, but the scent will still be there. Which means I’m going to be territorial as fuck and he’s going to have his own struggles, so I’m not going to be able to put him in charge and go satisfy my urges. He’s got an omega to take care of and keep from attacking the others when they start flirting with Alenko because two-thirds of the ship’s going to be in heat.”

“So we get Chakwas to issue emergency suppressants to the omegas and female betas. Hell, I’ll take one myself, but they aren’t strong enough to do anything for an Alpha but reduce the intensity,” she said. “That does bring up another issue, though.”

“I am _not _giving Alenko breeding rights, so don’t ask,” Shepherd snapped. “I do that, and I might as well step down as a pack Alpha. Besides, how long is this mission going to take? You really want the two of them out of commission for months?”

“There _has _to be a compromise here, Jake,” she said. “The odds of a pseudo-heat taking are low even with Alpha pairs. Which means they have one chance a year, and it’s not guaranteed. It hasn’t worked yet. Kaidan’s older than we are. He’s on a clock. At least let them _try_.”

“No, Kate,” he said. “Maybe next year, but I’m not abdicating my position. It’s tenuous enough already. You may not think so, but I _earned _this posting.”

“You’re being selfish,” she snapped. “Our kind is _dying_. We need all the breeding pairs we can get or we’re going to go extinct, and Jack is completely fresh blood. You’re going to potentially make them miss their one shot at reproducing because you’re worried about yourself.”

“One child is not going to save or doom the species,” he said. “It’s off the table. I’m not being an asshole here and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop trying to make me into one. I have _no _obligation to allow another Alpha to breed. It hasn’t even been _done _until the past few years. If we were further along as a pack or if my position was stable, I’d think about it, but I’m not throwing away the best chance for my career for them. C’mon, Kate. Tell me you would feel differently if the situation was reversed and someone in my pre-existing pack wanted to breed.”

She heaved a defeated sigh. “You’re right. I’d say the same damn thing.”

Jake nodded. “That’s what I thought. Now, heat. Rut. What are we going to do?”

She raked a hand through her hair and sat back. “I don’t know. It’s never been an issue before. Kaidan, Jack, and I usually go through it together. Even if we suppress the rest of the ship and delay Alenko, in quarters these tight, I’ll seek one or both of them out and then…”

“And then I’m not only odd man out in the pack but I’m also going to be a threat to them,” he finished. “The mission can’t go on with all of us incapacitated anyway.”

“Then drop me back in Vancouver, you go somewhere else, and we let Kaidan and Jack run things for a few days,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “And come back to find they’ve established themselves as pack leaders in our absence?”

“They wouldn’t do that,” she said with an eye roll. 

“Maybe not on purpose, but if something happens during that time to bond the crew, do you think they’re going to care that Jack’s an omega when he looks and acts like an Alpha and will be in a position of authority?” he asked.

“Good point,” she grumbled. “Then drop Jack and me in Vancouver, and you go somewhere else. Yes, that leaves Kaidan in charge, but if he and I went to Vancouver, you’d have to stay on the ship and he wouldn’t leave Jack. And I’m not leaving the ship to you without someone else in the pack with you. You’re still too angry that I’m in charge.”

“Would he even let you do that?” Jack asked. 

“We have before when he hasn’t been around,” she said. 

“Yeah, but there’s a difference between him knowing it’s happening but not seeing it and having to bid the two of you goodbye and then watch another Alpha walk away with his mate,” Jake pointed out.

“Fuck,” she griped. They were running out of options. “Fine. Then we either dock, put the mission on hold for shore leave, go our separate ways for a few days, or…” She couldn’t believe she was about to suggest this. “We delay Jack and Kaidan, let them run the mission, and you and I stay on the ship.”

“And, what? Never leave our cabins?” he asked. 

“_Cabin_,” she corrected. “This cabin. It’s on its own deck. It’s secure. Chakwas or another of the betas could bring food up and leave it outside the door. The VI can cycle the air through the filters before it goes out to the rest of the ship, so Kaidan wouldn’t smell us. Pack and comfort, right?”

He looked at her for a long moment, considering. “There’s a big difference between pack with benefits and sharing a rut.”

“Not really,” she said with a shrug. “How many times have you hooked up with a random person for it? Hell, Jack and Kaidan and I have been through it together at least once for the last...three or four years? And there’s no issue.”

“Are they going to have a problem if you and I do this?” he asked. 

“I doubt it,” she said. “Especially not if they’re allowed to have theirs—_with _birth control—later.” 

“Okay,” he said. “Deal. You’re really going to have to tell me how that all came about, though.”

“You should ask them,” she suggested. “It’s more their story to tell than mine.”

“They wouldn’t mind?” he asked.

“You’re pack now,” she said simply.


	7. Built for This Time

_"Standing there on the edge. Ain't scared of whats ahead. _ _Walking up like revenge. I was built for this time._

_B_ _leeding red like the sun, taking over everyone. Watch me as I overcome. I was build for this time."_

_-'Built for This Time' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

“So how the hell did an Alpha end up with an omega?” Jake asked, taking a seat in the mess hall beside Shepard and across from Alenko and Sheppard.

“That’s a long story,” Kaidan said, taking a bite of his mashed potatoes. “You sure you want to hear it?” 

“Yeah,” Jake said. 

“Okay,” Alenko said with a nod. “But I’d also like to know how an Alpha ended up bonded to a beta male.”

Jake’s hand tightened around his fork and he pushed his food around for a moment before shrugging. Might as well tell them. “I lost my first mate and pack and...well, everyone, really, when I was barely an adult. I got sent to live with a family here on Earth. The son became my best friend. Eventually, I realized I loved him and he’d been waiting for me to wake up to it. We couldn’t bond like Alphas or Alphas and omegas, but we married and spent six years together before he was killed. Not much story there, I’m afraid.”

Shepard looked over at him, her emerald eyes intense on his and grief coloring her scent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I understand that pain better than...well, you’ll see.”

Kaidan finished his faux-beef roast and hooked an arm around Jack, leaning back in his chair and saying. “Well, about five years ago, Kate and I were leading a small war pack together. She was mated to a wolf named Alex, but he was only an ensign, so I remained her second. There were a dozen of us: three alphas, seven betas, and two omegas. We got assigned to the _SSV Hastings _to go root out a batarian pirate stronghold in retaliation for the Blitz….”

~*~*~

_SSV Shanghai, 2178_

Kaidan approached the day room with his eyes trained on his omni-tool. Shepard had just received the last burst from intel before the _Shanghai _went silent on approach and she’d transferred the schematics of the batarian base to him for evaluation. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said they were walking into a shitstorm. Of course, Kate didn’t generally exaggerate, so that wasn’t unexpected. He’d just hoped it would be a little simpler than this. 

He paused in the doorway, breathing in the scent of human Alpha. He wasn’t skilled at reading their scents and didn’t have the instinctive understanding of it, but it seemed to be the human version of stress and frustration. Kaidan didn’t think it was directed at him, so he continued in, glancing up long enough to see a dark-haired male Alpha standing in front of the community comm terminal, talking to a pretty, dark-haired woman who was probably his mate. That reminded him. He should contact Mama before they went dark. 

“You just want me back on Arcturus so that you can control me, just like you did when we were together. It’s not so easy to manipulate me now and you don’t like it.”

“Bullshit, Laramie. Drop the victimized omega act. There’s no one here to see it but me and it took me long enough, but I see through it,” the Alpha sighed, raking a hand through his hair. 

“You’re just like Alan,” she accused.”You say you hated him, but you’re _just _like him!”

The Alpha huffed and rolled his eyes, indignation rolling off of him, but his voice was almost amused when he said, “You know, I’ve been wondering about that. You said he cheated on you. He said you cheated on him. But I caught you with Frank, so I _know _you cheated on me. You say he scared you, but you also admitted to hitting him. You say he was controlling and manipulative, but you've also said the same damn thing about me when I asked you to spend less time making sure the house looked pretty and more time making it a home with me. Which makes me wonder if anything you've ever told me is true or if you're just a malignant fucking narcissist and Frank is simply your next target. Maybe I should look Alan up and go have a beer with him so we can thank the stars that we managed to mostly dodge the bullet that is _you_.”

Not a mate, then. Kaidan raised his eyebrows but turned his attention back to the schematics. This facility wasn’t just going to be a real doozy to take, it was going to be dangerous. He’d been expecting something like that when the Alliance had thrown five separate werewolf packs together alongside a human squad for this mission, but seeing it for himself had his hackles up. 

The human muttered something under his breath and continued arguing with his ex-mate. Kaidan briefly debated leaving, but that would likely draw more attention than simply sitting down and waiting for the terminal to get free. He flicked his fingers over the image on his ‘tool, rotating it in the hopes that another angle would bring new ideas. _Work smarter, not harder, Alenko. Brute force isn’t the approach here. This is why Kate insisted on you for second Alpha. Prove her right. _

“You were never home and then you used that to turn our whole relationship into a business transaction,” the omega insisted.

“I can't control when the Alliance decides to deploy me. You know that,” the Alpha said, disbelief pitching his voice higher. “I was busting my ass to support you and all I asked in return was that you set aside some time for me when I was home! How is that a fucking business transaction?”

“‘I gave you this, so you have to give me that,’” she said mockingly. “That's not a relationship. You tried to emotionally manipulate me and make me feel guilty when I tried to set boundaries about what I could and couldn't handle because all you saw when you looked at me was a business ledger, not a person!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” the Alpha asked, gaping at the screen. 

“I was going through a difficult time, and I couldn't handle meeting your needs at the same time,” she said prissily, cocking a hand on her hip. “But you didn't see that, did you? You're dismissive of my struggles just because they were invisible, and that's not acceptable, Jack.”

“I was dismissive of your ‘invisible struggles,’” the man said slowly. Acrid fury flashing through his scent, but his voice remained quiet, forced out between his teeth. “Which ones, Laramie? The ‘invisible struggles’ from miscarrying your baby by adultery? Or the ‘invisible struggles’ you always turned to when I wanted some sort of participation from you in our relationship, the ones that came from leaving a man who, as it turned out, _you_ abused and then claimed he did to you what you did to him? Which ones did I dismiss?”

“Alan _was_ a drunk,” she snapped.

Kaidan could hear the Alpha's teeth grind together from across the room. “Yeah, well. You know what? If I'd had to live with you any longer and put up with half the shit you did to Alan, I'd have needed to drink, too!”

“Of course you'd side with my abuser,” she sniffed. “You're just like him.”

“Aaand we're back to that,” the Alpha sighed. “I’m not arguing with you today. Will you at least put Lyanna on? I’d like to at least get to say hi and bye to my daughter before we go dark.”

The argument drew his attention in spite of himself. Human rituals and practices were still strange to him even after working together with them. This kind of discussion might have been common in humans, but wasn’t one that happened with weres. 

Were Alphas bonded to other Alphas, not omegas, which meant that they almost always served together. Kate herself was a case in point. Kaidan wouldn’t still be in this role if her mate wasn’t an ensign. After this mission, Alex would probably be promoted and the two of them would be leading their next pack together and he’d have to find another Alpha to work with. The thought was disheartening. He liked his pack.

“Hi, Papa!” A sleepy brunette girl with bright blue eyes shuffled on screen. “When are you coming home?”

_Cute kid._

“Hey, angel…” the human said, his scent softening as affection flooded him. “Soon, I hope. I just have to get rid of some bad guys first, then I’ll be back.”

“Can’t you be back _now_? There’s a werewolf in my closet and it wants to eat me. Lucy’s scared.” The girl clutched a flop-eared stuffed rabbit to her chest. “Frank can’t see it. I need you.” 

“He can’t see it because all of the werewolves are here on my ship. Besides, werewolves don’t live in closets. You’re thinking of koji monsters, and those only eat little boys. You’re perfectly safe, sweet girl.” 

Kaidan suppressed a snort. He kind of wanted to go up and talk to the kid, try to put her fears to rest. Human or not, Kaidan’s kind would be infinitely more likely to protect than try to harm the girl. It wasn’t his place, though, and he needed to focus. Still, he’d needed that laugh. 

_Werewolves don’t live in closets_, he thought with a grin. _Nope. We prefer it under the bed. _Sometimes he cracked himself up.

“They at least have them caged, right?” the woman broke in. Her voice darkened. “I hope you’ve had all your shots. I wouldn’t let Lyanna near one of those things.”

His amusement faded. This was why his people tended to avoid humans. Their fear made them unreasonably aggressive and they’d rather give in to that fear than seek out the source and be educated. 

“Laramie…” the man sighed, “They’re people, just like you and me.”

“Yes, well,” the woman sniffed, “make sure you don't drink after any of them.”

“Jesus Christ...It’s not contagious like that.”

“It passes through saliva,” the omega said stubbornly.

“If they _bite_. So far, none of them have even shown their teeth to smile. I’m fine,” Jack grumbled.

At least one of them had some sense. This one might be alright. What had ever drawn him to be with someone like that? Sure, lycanthropy could be passed to humans, but not through oral contact. Saliva or blood had to enter the human’s bloodstream to have an effect. Besides, turning one without consent was treated by the humans as murder. 

He focused back on the task at hand. The batarians had retrofitted a mineshaft into a bunker and were dug in deep. The moon was large enough to support an atmosphere, and the facility spread deep underground in twisting offshoots of indeterminate stability. A mountain rose above it, tons and tons of rock pressing down on the tunnels below. Scans, however, had picked up only one entrance and various ventilation shafts. 

Most offshoots ended in a fortified bunker. They would need to clear each one as they came to it to avoid being flanked and trapped. If he had his way, he’d bomb it from orbit. Failing that, he would send poison gas down into the vents and blow the entrance. Let them die in their bunkers. But the Alliance had nixed that idea. This was meant to be a statement. The brass wanted bodies. They were going to get them, alright. Kaidan just wasn’t sure whether they would be batarian or Alliance.

“Come home, Papa. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, baby. It shouldn’t be too long. I’m going to make sure these bad guys can’t hurt anybody else ever again, then I’ll be home. ‘Kay, sweetheart?”

“Okay.”

“That’s my girl. Don’t worry. I’m tough. Nothing’s going to get me.” He held his fist up to the camera, the girl bumping it through the screen. 

“Bye, Papa.”

Kaidan’s lips quirked into a soft smile. He really hoped this one made it back with them. He should be fine. The humans were there for backup. Kaidan himself was likely in far more danger. The human would see his daughter again. As long as Kaidan and the others could figure out a solution.

“I'd think you of all people should know better than to promise things like that,” the omega snapped when the girl was gone. 

“What now, Laramie?” the Alpha sighed.

Poison in the air vents wasn’t a terrible idea, but it would render the weres and humans unable to breathe without respirators and those didn’t accommodate a half-shift form as well as the rest of the armor. Unless there was a type of poison that affected batarians and not humans. There had to be. Their biology was vastly different despite the batarians’ humanoid shape. He minimized the schematics and sent a search VI to scan for information on the extranet.

The omega’s voice dripped with false concern. “You shouldn't promise her that you'll come back. You can't be sure that you will. If you insist on taking these dangerous missions, you should prepare her for that possibility. You're much better suited to it than I am since you have firsthand knowledge of how hard it is to grow up without a daddy, to know that he was brutally killed.”

_Ouch. Low blow. Human omegas are vicious. _

There had to be some sort of cultural nuance he was missing, though the Alpha wasn’t reacting in a way that indicated that their arrangement was out of the ordinary. Perhaps this was what resulted from a lack of pack. One person was required to meet all of the other’s needs and that was implausible. It wasn’t unreasonable that the omega would want both stability for herself and her pup and companionship, but he should have been getting at least some of that from other omegas. 

“Bullshit,” he ground out, his jaw clenched. “Do _not _bring my father into this.”

The woman didn’t seem to hear him. “Maybe you don't love her because she's not an Alpha like you.”

Kaidan winced, hoping the kid wasn’t in earshot. It made no sense to him that anyone should be blamed for the gender of a child. But the humans were overpopulated while the weres were dying out from lack of new blood, so perhaps they held different values.

“That is not fucking true, Laramie, and don’t you dare imply it is.”

His search results popped up on the screen. There! Helium-3 was toxic if breathed by batarians in concentrations that wouldn’t affect humans or weres. Even better, it was easily obtainable. It was unlikely to kill them, but if nothing else, it should smoke them out of their bunkers. If the Alliance could drive them to the surface, it would be a simple matter to take them out from there.

“Whatever,” the omega muttered. “Come home or don’t. You’re not my problem anymore.”

The call terminated. 

Luna, he should have left. The guy wasn’t going to want a stranger here to witness this any more than Kaidan would want a human around if the situation was reversed.

“Well, _that _was pleasant…” the human tried to joke. “Sorry you had to be subjected to that. I'm not sure whether she was always a psycho bitch or if I did something to deserve it.”

Kaidan realized the man was talking to him. He looked up and gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry for overhearing. If I’d realized, I would have left straight away. It just seemed like I’d draw more attention by leaving than staying put.” He cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowing slightly. “Are you alright?” he asked gently.

“Sure,” the man sighed, sticking out his hand. “Jack Sheppard. You’re Alenko, right?”

Kaidan took his hand and shook it somewhat awkwardly. Weres didn’t touch paws to greet the way that humans did. He wondered what the significance was. Did it transfer scent for them? Indicate neutrality? He didn’t know.

“That’s right. Kaidan Alenko. I’m not sure whether ‘it’s nice to meet you’ would be appropriate or untimely. So...hello.”

“Hello.”

~*~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Wait, wait wait,” Jake said, looking at Jack. “You were _human_?! I don’t think I’ve ever met a made were before.” He looked over at Kate. “And you were mated?”

“Mmhm,” she said evenly, her gaze steady, but that flare of grief flickered through her scent again. 

Forget the Alpha/omega pair. It seemed he was going to get an answer to his question after all. What had caused her to sacrifice her pack, including her mate? He thought he knew her well enough by now to say with some certainty that she hadn’t done it frivolously. As ferociously as she’d fought for him and Alenko even when she’d been broken and bleeding, she wouldn’t have made a call like that without reason. 

“Sorry. Continue,” he said, clearing his tray but leaving it in front of him while he settled in his chair to listen.

“Our CO was a fucking idiot,” Kate said. “If not for his ignorance and arrogance, none of this would have happened.”

“Yeah, but then you guys wouldn’t have me,” Jack said, winking at her. 

“True,” she replied, picking up the story.

~*~*~

_SSV Shanghai orbiting Torfan, 2178_

Kate stood stiffly in the officer’s lounge in front of Major Kyle with Kaidan beside her. Her voice was low but she was gratified to hear that it was steady and determined. Her scent told another story, she was sure, but it was one the foolish human wouldn’t pick up on. She was agitated, furious at the humans’ interference and the Alliance’s insistence that having a neutral human in charge of the mission would prevent dominance fights between the Alpha pairs. 

“And I’m telling you that I don’t care what the brass said,” she said steadily. “Your people are here as support. We’ll try it your way, but the weres _will not _listen to you. I can make my pack do it, but I honestly don’t see a reason to. I get the logic behind you being in command, but it’s flawed. So you keep your people under control and let me worry about mine.”

“Lieutenant Shepard, you are out of line,” the major snapped, stepping forward and jabbing a finger into her face.

_Bad idea, human. _Kate knew she was a force to be reckoned with even in a good mood, and she certainly wasn’t in one today. Kyle had insisted on sending troops down into the mines to prevent the batarians from finding other escape routes, and never mind that the tunnels had been mapped only a few hours ago and showed nothing of the sort. It was a senseless move that created unnecessary risk for the were packs while providing no demonstrable benefit. They would be much safer waiting for the targets to come to them.

“With all due respect, Major,” she said, straightening her shoulders and baring her teeth just enough to send an instinctive shiver down a human’s spine. “You do not understand the intricacies of attempting to command five separate packs led by ten different Alphas. I am not questioning your intellect, just your training. If you would like this mission to run smoothly, I suggest you listen to me. You don’t want me commanding your people? That’s fine. But the packs _require _centralizing leadership from a pair of Alphas of our own kind. That’s Lieutenant Alenko and me.” She turned, ignoring Kyle’s next words. “Alenko.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Make sure everybody’s geared up and get the Alphas in here.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.” 

He left, returning a few moments later with a mixed group of male and female Alphas who gathered around her in pairs. Their scents transmitted their displeasure with Kyle’s involvement, but none posed a challenge to her. She’d already developed a reputation for ruthlessness to anyone not pack who stood in her way, and as the only full-fledged N7 in the group, she was automatically considered the most dominant Alpha. A combination of logic and instinct determined dominance when packs worked cooperatively, not infighting as the humans assumed.

“Alright, guys. So here’s what we’re looking at. Intel shows the batarians are dug in deep in what used to be a mining system, but they’ve converted it into a series of bunkers. I’ve transferred the schematics to your omni-tools. I’m not going to lie. Getting in’s going to be a bitch. We’ve got five packs of ten each and two dozen humans for support. I want demolitions from each pack to identify the best locations to plant charges, but those are a _last resort_. The Alliance wants this facility intact if possible. One Alpha from each pack will remain topside with the omegas. The other will lead a team of betas into the mines….” 

~*~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“That sounds like a recipe for disaster,” Jake said, shaking his head and carrying his tray to the receptacle before resuming his seat. 

“It was,” she said. 

Jack nodded. “Meanwhile, the humans had no idea what they were doing. Most of us hadn’t worked with wolf packs before and the ones who weren’t prejudiced were uninformed. We were told we were to support the wolves, but we had no idea how to do that, the weres weren’t telling us anything, Major Kyle was a fool, and half of our people wanted to just take over but they knew we didn’t have the numbers. The mentality was basically that we were going to let the weres go in and take the hits.”

“And in the end, we all did,” Kaidan said.

“Hey, Commander?” Joker’s voice cut in over the PA. 

“Yes?” Jake and Kate answered at the same time. 

“You know, I can’t decide if it’s cool or creepy that you guys always do that,” Joker said. 

“What do you need, Joker?” she asked.

“Hackett’s on the QEC for you. Maybe he got a lead.”

“Be right there,” she said and the two commanders rose from the table and headed for the elevator together. Storytime would have to wait. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter initially got posted on Tumblr along with a mirror chapter from Sheppard's point of view as a teaser for this story. Since I wrote Kaidan's point of view in full for the chapter, I chose to keep it. So if it looks familiar, this is that event put into the context of the bigger story.  
Additionally, I had previously offered to let an acquaintance bring their Shepard into this storyline; however, that did not work out and their Shepard has been fully removed. All of the AU concepts, lore, ideas, events, and characterizations are mine. Any claims otherwise are false and I have proof of such.


	8. Walk Through the Fire

_"I'm always wondering if it's ever gonna end. I can feel it in my bones. Standing in the dust of what's left of us. I can see you in my soul. Did we take too many chances? Did we let too many pass us? Did we throw it all away? Did we light too many matches, turn ourselves into these ashes? Did we throw it all away? We walk through the fire? Is there a way out? Is there a way out?"_

_-'Walk Through the Fire' by Zayde Wolf ft. Ruelle_

* * *

Kate sprawled out on her couch with Jake, Kaidan, and Jack, her head in Jake’s lap and legs across Kaidan and Jack’s. Kaidan radiated contentment with his hand on her knee and his arm around his mate. Jack leaned into him, his nose tucked shamelessly under his Alpha’s jaw, and drew small circles around her ankle. 

Jake’s fingers threaded through her curls, his attention on the other two as they continued the story Hackett had interrupted. They were on their way to Pragia to investigate another facility, but there were two hours between here and there, and Jake had asked for them to continue the story. 

~*~*~

_Torfan, 2178_

Goddamn Kyle.

Everything had gone FUBAR faster than even he’d expected. Sending packs down into the mines meant that Kaidan’s hope that the batarians would assume malfunction of their ventilation system before attack was shot. The batarians’ exposure to the gas they’d pumped in hadn’t been long enough to do more than drive them out of their bunkers and perhaps throw their concentration off somewhat. 

It wasn’t enough. 

They’d swarmed out in droves, overwhelming the packs even in the weres’ half-shift forms. Kyle sending the human reinforcements in had almost doubled the Alliance’s numbers, but there was no room to maneuver. They were fish in a damn barrel and scans hadn’t picked up the turrets buried in the walls or the lights overhead that were indistinguishable from the normal ones but burned and melted anyone who stepped within their beam. He winced as another lash of pain burst through his mind, another yelp, another block of silence where one of his people should have been.

_Kate, we’re getting slaughtered down here!_

The mental voice that responded was familiar, driven, and agonized. _Alex?_

_Yes, ma’am? _her mate responded, taking advantage of the pack communication that functioned while in a half or full shift like the comm system they used in human form.

She hesitated. The pause would have been undetectable to anyone who didn’t know her or couldn’t feel what she felt, but it hung in Kaidan’s mind like the suspended blade of a guillotine. And then she cut the cord. _Blow the charges. _A discordant jumble of thoughts and impressions flitted across his mind, most too quickly for him to catch. _I love you, Alex. I’m sorry. Forgive me. The mission must be completed at all costs. All costs. Costs all…._

Goddamn Kyle.

A beta from a different pack either read and interpreted his expression or received word from her own Alpha, because she threw up a biotic bubble that surrounded and enclosed as many of them as she could reach. Kaidan threw out his hands, shoving dark energy into it to give it all of the strength he could. The human from the day room stood just outside its reach, and he tried to call out, to get his attention and tell him to get inside, but the man’s name escaped him and he either didn’t hear or didn’t realize he was being addressed. 

The world exploded around him.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared and the screams in his head gave way to silence, Kaidan reached out, searching desperately for any of his betas or the Alpha that meant so much to his fellow pack leader. Nothing. Nothing but a deep well of grief from the female Alpha. Nothing but terror from noncombatant omegas suddenly under attack and forced to fight for their lives on the surface. Nothing but Kate’s fury and futile determination to protect those few who remained. Even she wasn’t strong enough to do that on her own.

Kaidan fought not to buckle under the psychological strain. He wasn’t finished here yet. There were survivors, and he had to get them to the surface.

“You three!” he ordered in a voice that came through his snout as more growl than discernible speech. “Make an opening! The two of you, search for survivors. Don’t ignore the humans, either! Beta! Spread that barrier as wide as you can. I’m not confident in the structural integrity of this section.”

He did his best to ignore what was happening on the surface. He couldn’t help them now. His responsibility lay with the people around him. His eyes landed on the human Alpha. At least, he thought it was the human Alpha. It smelled like him. And raw meat. And blood. Kaidan went to him, kneeling down beside him as the man—Sheppard, he belatedly remembered—struggled to take gurgling breaths and trying not to grimace at the sight of the man’s ruined eyes. They’d been a beautiful, warm brown, he recalled. No more. Even turning him wouldn’t fix that kind of damage. 

He called up his omni-tool and scanned him, his heart dropping further in his chest. Humans were more fragile than weres, and even a were would be hard-pressed to heal this kind of damage without fully shifting and receiving prompt medical care. As it stood, Shepard was going to die and even with his medical training, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

The memory of the little girl surfaced, making his brows draw together and his ears droop. That little girl would never see her beloved Papa again. The batarians would win, at least in this man’s case.

The utter injustice beat against his chest. There was nothing he could do for his pack, but there _was _something he could do for this man. He could ensure that he got to see his pup again. He leaned over and placed a hand on the human’s uninjured shoulder.

“Hey. Jack, right? It’s Kaidan. Just breathe, buddy. Calm down. The more you fight it, the harder it’s going to be. I need you to focus on me if you want to get out of here. You want to see that little girl of yours, right? Lyanna? I can make that happen, but it’s going to take a little more than medigel.”

Jack coughed, spattering more blood on his chin. “Can’t see. Can’t _breathe_… Can't feel my legs… Help me,” he gasped, clutching blindly. 

Kaidan grasped his questing hand and held it, infusing calm he didn’t feel into his scent and voice. “I know, Jack. You’re hurt pretty badly. I’m sure you’ve figured that out. I _can _save you, but...it won’t be as you are. I can turn you into one of us and you’ll probably live, or I can take the pain away and let you go. Your choice. I know it’s not much of one, but it’s the only one I can give you.”

“How...?” Jack wheezed, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. 

“This is probably not the best time to tell you I’ve never done this before, but bad timing seems to be a theme for us, doesn’t it? Biting’s the fastest and most reliable from what I’ve read. You’ve got enough open wounds, though, that I shouldn’t have to do much. You probably won’t even feel the teeth.” 

The beta holding the barrier wavered, so Kaidan lifted a finger of his free hand and crooked it at another, whispering, “Go help them shore up that barrier, beta. We need more time and I’ve got this.” There was no sense in alarming the injured human any further.

“You can’t do this,” the beta said. “It’s illegal.”

“Not with consent,” Kaidan said. “Go.”

“He can’t give consent in this condition. They’ll lock you up.”

“I don’t care. Do what I said. _Now_.”

“Do it,” Jack whispered. “Tell Lyanna I’m sorry…”

“Stay with me, Jack. You’re going to get to see her again.”

Sheppard slumped in his armor, his sightless eyes closing. Kaidan ripped off pieces of the man’s ruined armor and buried his teeth through the underarmor and into his flesh. Again. And again. When he came to an open wound, he licked it thoroughly, tasting the fresh blood on his tongue. 

When he’d done all that he could do, he sat back on his haunches, willing the man to come back to them. _Come on, Jack. Fight. Stay with us. Don’t you dare say goodbye._

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Shepherd said, shaking his head. 

His hand had settled on top of Kate's head, empathy wrapping around her in a warm, soft cloud. She’d reached out for Jack’s and gave it a squeeze. She hadn’t heard the full story from their perspective before. She hadn’t registered Jack as part of the pack until they were off Torfan, even after he’d been changed. She remembered a vague awareness of an unfamiliar presence, but most of what happened after Alex had called to her was a blur that was still too painful to touch most days. She hadn’t been able to take on Jack’s pain and her own, and Kaidan had known it. 

“It was pretty brutal,” she said softly. “Worst mission I’ve ever led. It was...a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked down at her with understanding in his soft gray eyes. His fingers trailed through her curls again, his thumb brushing her temple. 

“It’s over now,” she said. “And we did at least get Jack from it.”

Shepherd nodded, looking over at the omega. “I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been for you.”

“It...wasn’t pleasant,” Jack said. “Worth it, but not pleasant. Go on, K.”

~*~*~

_Torfan, 2178_

Jack screamed. Kaidan broke off from helping clear the last of the rubble to give them a path out and ran to him. The man writhed, his face drawn, his body wracked by the pain of the change as his bones broke, rearranged, and mended themselves in a process that took only seconds for a born wolf but was torture for a made one. Fur broke through the man’s skin and his armor flexed as his body remade itself, the process slowed by the man’s resistance.

“_Easy_, Sheppard. I know it hurts, but I need you to be calm. Don’t try to fight it. Be _still_, Jack. Thrashing about only makes it worse.” 

Kaidan wrapped his arms around him, holding him as still as possible, hoping that his proximity and scent would have the desired effect already. Jack relaxed momentarily before straining again. Kaidan ripped what remained of the other man’s armor loose, tossing it aside and clawing open the restrictive underarmor not designed to accommodate a shift like this. Moments later, the newly-born silver wolf dropped to his belly, clinging to the concrete floor and gasping in deep breaths. His eyes were squeezed shut, still blind, but his lungs no longer gurgled and his wounds had stopped bleeding. His dark nostrils twitched and flared as he instinctively scented the air, his body unnaturally still. 

He was going to panic.

Kaidan tore his own armor off. It could handle a half-shift but not a full one, and he was going to need to be in full shift in order to control the new..._ omega_? 

_Oh, shit._

He’d known it was a possibility, but the man had radiated Alpha as a human. That hadn’t mattered in the change. A human’s secondary gender was similar to a were’s but different enough that it was the lycanthropy, not the humanity, that determined the new one.

The sightless silver wolf flexed his paws and brought one up to his muzzle, wincing when it touched his maw. He froze again. Kaidan ripped through his own underarmor, leaving it in tattered shreds, exposing sable fur that rippled as he bent over. His fur-covered fingers shortened, reshaping into true paws. His limbs molded themselves from bipedal to quadrupedal. He shook himself from head to tail and slowly approached the frozen omega.

Jack scrabbled forward, lurching into him before tumbling into a pile of dead batarians. Panicked thoughts bombarded Kaidan’s mind. _Out, out, gotta g__et out, buried alive I'm buried alive in the dark everyone's dead they're all dead and I am too, gotta get out gotta go _now_._

Kaidan stepped closer, hoping that his scent would settle the frightened wolf without his proximity registering as a threat to what was left of Jack’s human mind. It seemed to work for a moment. The other wolf cautiously lifted his head, his nostrils flaring. He took a cautious step forward and promptly got tangled in the pile of corpses, panic lancing through him once more.

_Jack! _Kaidan said as soothingly as he could manage with the omega’s fear and Kate’s rage filtering down from the surface. The three of them were the only pack left. _Calm. Down. You’re not going to die and you are not buried alive. I’m going to get you out of here, but you need to trust me._

The newborn omega whimpered pitifully, the sounds lancing straight into Kaidan’s heart.

_That’s _me_? Why do I sound like that? What's wrong with me? _His frightened bay echoed around the chamber. His ears pinned against to head, his tail curling between his legs tightly enough to drop his haunches. He bolted.

Kaidan leapt after him, passing by in a rush that ruffled the other wolf’s fur, and spun around in front of him, planting his paws. The panicked wolf slammed into him and stopped short. 

_Slow down_, Kaidan urged_. You’re going the wrong way. Put your chin on me and stay close. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise, Jack._

Jack did as requested, and Kaidan felt the wash of calm that finally seeped into the omega as he registered his creator’s scent.

_Get me out of here_. _Help me. Please._ He leaned heavily against Kaidan, his nose working frantically to keep Kaidan's scent and searching for a change in the dusty air.

_I’m going to. Just stay with me. Don’t panic. You’re safe. We’ve got biotics with us. Nothing’s left to fight but your own fear. _Kaidan walked slowly but steadily forward, careful not to move too quickly and dislodge him, but progressing all the same. The ground began to rise and the scent of fresh air flowed into the passageway. _Almost there. Just another few paces. Smell that? We’re almost at the surface. _

Other scents drifted on the air, similar to the ones below. Kate’s voice, bordering on nonverbal, crashed into him. He swiftly blocked her access to Jack. She was too far gone to allow her to touch his mind. She’d send him fully feral and Kaidan would stand no chance of truly saving him.

_Deadalldeadnosurrendernomercynoquarter..._

Dread pooled in his belly as they broke through to the surface onto a field of fire and death where a red wolf stood in a mass of bodies. _...Jesus, Kate. What did you do?_

_Killed them all I killed them all no mercy no quarter no surrender blood for blood…_

Kaidan stopped in his tracks, momentarily forgetting the new omega as he scanned his surroundings. Weres and a handful of humans staggered around, helping each other as much as they were able. Not a single batarian was left standing. The bodies around her chilled him to the bone. They hadn’t been shot. They had been _mauled_. To pieces. Her coat was matted in alien blood. Her green eyes were frenzied. She threw back her head and howled.

Alenko joined in after a moment, adding his voice to her grief, mourning the loss of their pack. Too much. It had cost too much. The price was too high. Insanity beat from her mind against his. The newborn omega joined the chorus, despair radiating off of him. The other weres added their varying tones, each pack’s individual song both separating and joining them. The message remained the same. And then it stopped. 

Kaidan returned to Jack, pressing up against him. He licked his muzzle, offering comfort. Jack started and snapped his teeth in Kaidan’s direction, missing him by a few inches. He paused and pawed at his muzzle. _The hell...what the...what’s happened to me? _

_You’re a wolf._

_No, I’m not. I can't be a wolf. Laramie won't let me near Lyanna. It's a nightmare, that's all. _

_I assure you, this is real. Stay calm, Jack. I’m right here._

Jack’s breath stopped. He started scrabbling in the rocks, trying to run. _Lyanna!_

A shuttle landed. Human soldiers poured off of it in waves. Their weapons fixed on the bloodied Alpha and the panicked omega.

Real fear began to bloom in his chest. _Jack! Kate! You _need _to calm down! There are _humans _here!_

“We’ve reached the extraction point and have multiple uncontrolled werewolves! Take your shots! Make ‘em count, boys!”

Jack’s response to their words would haunt Kaidan for days to come, breaking his heart again and again. _Not me. I'm good. I’m not out of control. I’m _good_. I just need to go home. I need to be there for Lyanna! _

The last of Kaidan’s calm vanished, replaced by white-hot fury. _God damn it. NO! Don’t tranq him! Jack, get down! _

Kaidan lunged, trying to throw himself between the projectile and his omega. Jack yelped as the dart bit into his thigh, collapsing almost instantaneously. The sound drove daggers into his chest and twisted. He threw himself over the downed wolf, standing as stiff and straight as he could over the limp body. Kaidan’s lips curled, fully exposing teeth and gums. His hackles stood on end the length of his body, bristling over his skin. He held his tail straight up, vibrating in his fury. 

A human approached with rifle drawn, and Kaidan snarled deep in his chest, taking a single step forward to meet his advance. Kate was momentarily forgotten, as silent and still as the omega at his feet. As long as there was a single omega or beta left, his sole purpose for existence was to guard and protect them. With his life, if necessary. 

“Wait! Wait! Stand down, soldier!” A surviving Alpha from a different pack ran toward them in human form, his eyes locked on the human. “Don’t touch him. He’s not a threat as long as you keep your distance. Back off and let me handle this.”

“But my orders—”

“_Fuck _your orders,” the Alpha snapped. “Lieutenant Alenko is an Alliance Marine. As is...that omega. You will not touch them. _Stand. Down. _”

The human slowly backed away, but didn’t fully lower his rifle. Kaidan issued another warning growl at him and the other Alpha shoved the human in the opposite direction. Kaidan slowly relaxed his stance, dropping his head to sniff at the unconscious omega. Unharmed. Just sedated. He licked Jack’s muzzle and nuzzled his cheek. 

_You’re safe. It’s alright now. We’re safe._

The omega’s transformation this time was seamless. The silver fur receded, bone and muscle shifted smoothly, leaving a man lying naked on the ground. Kaidan forced his own weary body back into a half-shift and crouched beside Jack, scooping him up into his arms and cradling the newborn omega to his chest. He couldn’t maintain this form for much longer, but he wasn’t letting go until Jack was truly safe.

“Find Shepard, get her on the ship for me, please,” he requested hoarsely. 

His tail sagged and feet shuffled against the ground as he carried the newest member of his pack to the waiting shuttle. He held him on his lap for the entirety of the flight back to the _Shanghai_, snarling at anyone who dared get too close. Kate lay on the bench beside him, Kaidan’s tail draped over her neck. When they arrived, the Alpha who’d stepped in carried her to the medbay. Kaidan didn’t release Jack until he laid him on the table beside her, and then he planted himself between them, moving only to change into the uniform another pack’s omega brought him when he finally gave in to exhaustion and let the half-shift go.

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Making the final jump. ETA, forty-five minutes,” Joker warned over the PA, cutting in on Kaidan. 

The Alpha pressed his lips to Jack’s forehead, his voice not entirely steady through the telling and his scent giving hints of the turmoil he still experienced when thinking about how close he’d come to losing Jack before he’d even truly found him. 

Jake’s thumb traced her ear and he looked down at her again, saying softly, “I know that place. I went there after the raid, and again on Akuze when Seth died. I was...maddened. Insane. No coherent thought, no reason, just rage and despair.”

She gave him a sad half-smile and lifted her hand to his cheek to offer comfort of her own. “It’s hell. But it passes. Pack gets us through.” 

“That it does,” Kaidan said. 

“This is the first one I’ve really had since Akuze,” he said. “I’ve bounced around too much to settle with any other groups. And I lost touch with Seth’s pack after he died. Like you said, I couldn’t handle their pain and my own.”

“You’ve got one now,” she said. “And so did we.”

~*~*~

_Arcturus, 2178_

Jack stirred, taking a deep breath.

“Good morning, Lieutenant Sheppard,” the doctor said to him in a faked cheerful voice. She sat on the bed beside him, drawing a quiet snarl from Kaidan that made her stand again.

“Where am I?”

“Patton Memorial, on Arcturus. We had to do surgery on your eyes. Do you remember that?” 

Jack nodded. Good.

“And your bandages are coming off today. Are you ready?”

“If I wanted teasing and no follow-through, I'd call my ex-wife,” he joked. 

Kaidan chuckled dryly and turned the lights down as the doctor slowly unwound the bandages, warning him to go slowly on opening his eyes. The last one came off and Jack screwed his eyes shut. The lids were swollen, but no longer horrifically sunken. He cracked them, revealing a cybernetic glow the doctor had warned about and said would return to brown in a few weeks.

“Hey there…” Kaidan said softly, hoping his presence would be welcome. He simply couldn’t leave, not until he saw for himself that the man was whole.

Jack turned his head and relief washed over Kaidan at the sight of him. He’d done it. He hadn’t been able to save his pack, but he’d saved this one, at least. In the midst of all of the death, there was this one single beacon of life and hope.

“Wishing you'd skipped the day room after all?" the omega asked.

"Not a chance," Kaidan said.


	9. Hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

_"Is it a dream? Is it a lie? Holding us together inside. Is it a noise? Is it a flame? Holding us together inside. There’s a storm coming.<br />_   
_We’ve been here before with it. Thunder like a war with it. There’s a storm coming. You and I are the hurricane."_

_-'Hurricane' by Zayde Wolf x Fjora_

* * *

Kate wanted to introduce Jack and Jake to working together in the field, so she left the _Normandy _in K’s command and took him and the new male Alpha onto Pragia together. Kaidan’s worry colored his scent. 

After a moment of reminding himself that K knew he was capable and had faith in his abilities, he decided it was understandable. Jack hadn’t been out in the field in six months—he’d told himself it wasn’t completely unjustified that he’d hoped that Laramie’s shit would make it so that he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore, but alas she’d recovered—and Kaidan wouldn’t be with him. 

They entered the facility with the other Shepherd taking point. Almost immediately, they began finding signs that this place was just like the last, only the terminal near the entry flickered to life when they approached. Kate gestured him forward and stood beside him with Shepherd at their backs while he hacked it. 

Kate was a tech whiz, brilliant with any type of virtual or artificial intelligence—though no one outside of the pack knew the latter—and could make her omnitool do almost anything she wanted. She was a terrible hacker, though. She’d expressed envy more than once that he’d gotten to sign on as an engineer even though he was a biotic. There had been too many vanguards and not enough engineers when he’d joined up, the exact opposite of her scenario. 

“I’m in,” he said quietly. 

Kate leaned closer as he uploaded the data to his omnitool and she scrolled through the information on the terminal. “Got a name,” she said. “Cerberus. There’s a recording here. Transcription says something about the Illusive Man.”

“That doesn’t bode well for our chances of finding him,” Shepherd quipped.

Kate shook her head. “Not ‘elusive.’ ‘Illusive’ like ‘illusion’. He or his people have named him a liar, and he’s not even trying to hide it. That alone says something about the man.”

“Still doesn’t bode well for our chances of finding him,” Shepherd said. “Is that everything?”

“Everything useful, I think,” she said. “I’ll send it to Intel for further analysis.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Jack asked too quietly for Shepherd to hear. It wouldn’t do for him to look like he was challenging his pack Alpha. She didn’t mind. Jack didn’t know if he would or not.

“I’ve got friends there,” she said just as quietly. “People we can trust.”

“Ten-four,” he said with a nod, stepping back and following them deeper into the facility. 

The rooms and corridors were as abandoned as those Kaidan had told him about in the last place. Some sections of the building were crumbling and they found evidence of older, brutal-looking experiments in the areas the jungle was trying to reclaim. A few of the terminals were still working and he was able to pull up logs discussing someone called ‘Subject Zero,’ but they only served to confuse them more as they couldn’t determine whether ‘Zero’ had been here recently or twenty years ago.

The closer they got to the heart of the facility, though, the more maintained it became. Their movement slowed. Kate clutched her shotgun and did her best to be stealthy. Vanguards weren’t trained for stealth, though, and he was shocked they didn’t alert the troops standing guard at a checkpoint beyond which the facility was dimmed for the night cycle but looked as if it was seeing active use. They didn’t know if others were still working or if the guards here were all that were present, which meant they had to proceed as if the facility was fully manned.

Damn, he wished Cat was here. A pair of beta infiltrators, she and her mate would have seen this and their eyes would have lit up at the challenge. He’d finally gotten the courage to contact her a few years ago. She’d cried and called him stupid and berated him for making her worry and demanded he come home ‘right now this very minute young man and bring that damned wonderful Alpha of yours with you or so help me god, I’ll hunt both of you down.’ Their mother had refused to see him, but Cat and her mate had welcomed him with open arms. 

Kate knelt behind a wall and whispered, “Jack, send out a drone. Overload their shields. Jake, charge right. I’ll charge left. Double nova should take them down. Then you two take their armor and see if you can infiltrate.”

“Copy that,” Shepherd said without hesitation.

“What about you?” he asked, keying up a drone.

“I’ll guard your six. I’m too small for their shit and it’s not designed for a half-shift. On my mark.” She stood with Shepherd beside her. They shared a look he’d seen pass between her and Kaidan when they were about to do something that required synchronization. “Mark.”

Jack ordered his drone out and the two Alphas vanished in a blur of blue. Dark energy flashed like a thunderstorm around them and the guards went down with silent, explosive fanfare. Heartbeats later, they straightened and grinned at each other and Jack moved up to join them. 

Kate covered them while they dragged the bodies into a storage closet and stripped themselves and the dead men down to their underarmor. Jake was almost as sturdily built as Kaidan, though taller and even more sure of himself. Beautiful, too, he noted when those sultry gray eyes glanced up at him through thick, dark lashes and full lips quirked up at the corners. Embarrassed to be caught staring, he turned his attention to the strange armor and began donning it. 

He’d always thought that werewolves were strictly monogamous because he’d heard that there was no concept of divorce in werewolf culture. That wasn’t exactly true. Where humans broke bonds all the time, wolves did mate for life, and most were monogamous simply because their relationships were Alpha/Alpha pairs and they generally didn’t bond with anyone not Alpha. 

However, they were a communal species and had broader views on physical contact and intimacy. The majority was slimmer than he’d realized at first. Their current three-Alpha arrangement was uncommon in war packs, but betas and omegas mated with each other and were rarely monogamous. Alphas who bonded with them usually weren’t, either. Even some Alpha/Alpha pairs in smaller packs were known to take on an omega or beta as a third. 

Having been with both Kate and Kaidan together, he could fully understand the omegas who agreed to that arrangement. Being with Kate was almost like being an alpha with a female omega again as far as sensation went. The balance of power was different, of course, but when she tightened around him and the strong muscle designed to stimulate a male Alpha’s knot or hold an omega in place tightened around his base, he could almost imagine he was the one with the knot again. And then to have Kaidan’s knot buried in his ass and his teeth buried in his shoulder was just _sublime_. He felt spoiled by them and didn’t mind at all when they turned to each other, especially when one or the other let him take them from behind at the same time. 

He’d never contemplated two male Alphas before, though. He didn’t think he would want to be with another one without Kaidan present, but he didn’t know how it would work logistically. He was sure there had to be a way. Toys or something, but wouldn’t one feel unsatisfied? He wouldn’t have liked having to use a toy while someone else was knotting his mate. He didn’t know. Shepherd, however, was one he might be willing to find out with. 

Where had that thought come from? It was stupid. This was not the time nor place to be contemplating other Alphas. Kate’s heat was getting closer. It was messing with his head, that was all. His neck flushed and he tugged the helmet on to cover it. 

Kate was still waiting for them when they came out. He hoped she couldn’t smell his embarrassment or the tiny bit of slick dampening his ass cheeks. For that matter, he _really _hoped Shepherd hadn’t noticed it. If either did, though, they didn’t mention it. 

“I was thinking,” Kate said to Shepherd through the com. “I think we need to start a rotation with the others on the team, give them the chance to do what Jack’s doing now. If we only use a three person team and we’re both always on it, then we’re not going to get much of a chance to learn everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. I think we should start with the smaller assignments Hackett and Anderson always seem to throw at us, but even on bigger missions like this or they’re not going to be ready.”

“That’s a good idea,” Shepherd agreed. “I think all three of us want to be here for things like this, but as long as we debrief when we get back, that’s not necessary. No real point to having a team if we’re not going to utilize them.”

“My thoughts exactly,” she said.

Their efforts were for nothing. Cat and her mate would have been disappointed. The hallways were empty. They created a square around a central room or courtyard, they weren’t sure which yet. One hallway held cells with mass effect chains and shackles as well as the tower-like mass effect field generators Shepherd had him disabling as they came to them. Designed to create a mass effect bubble around whatever they were given as a target, this facility was far more prepared than the last one had been. That didn’t mean they wanted to risk getting caught in it themselves. Another hallway had rooms that looked more like torture chambers than operating theaters and appeared to have been run by people who’d never heard the word ‘sterile field’ in their lives. Yet another held cages upon cages of sedated varren.

When they’d cleared the area, he and Jack took position alongside the door to the central area while Kate took point. The door opened in a rush of air that reminded him of a pallet of meat that one of his father’s employees had left outside the grocery in the sun for long enough for it to turn gray and rot mixed with sickly werewolf and something he couldn’t identify. Beside him, Shepherd snarled and rushed in to cover Kate’s back. Jack followed, calling up a drone as he did. 

He stopped behind them and peered over Kate’s head at the creature curled up in the far corner of the courtyard they’d come out in. Nothing like the _thing _that Kaidan had described, it was still grotesque. Small and twisted with wiry, mangy fur that left patches of gray skin bare, the back of a varren, and gnarled limbs, it snarled at them with a maw that reminded him of vorcha and a scream that was almost human.

“That used to be a person,” he said, shock making his voice hoarse. 

Fury radiated off of the Alphas, along with a sick revulsion from the male, who shook his head. “We’re going to take this Cerberus group _down_.” 

The thing screamed again, more desperate than aggressive, and pity overtook Shepherd’s rage. The bone-deep sadness in his expression was in direct counterpoint to the certain way he unclipped his pistol, aimed, and shot the creature in the head.

“Let’s get out of here,” Shepherd said. “I’ve had enough of this place to last a lifetime.”

Jack followed the Alphas back to the shuttle where Vidal was waiting for them and climbed aboard with them. Jake sank down into a seat and propped his forearms on his thighs with his head down. Kate almost mirrored his position, though her head was up and her hands were clasped beneath her chin the way she did when a mission didn’t go the way she wanted. She was taking it just as hard as Jake, though she didn’t show it as clearly. 

His go-to for situations like this was humor, but he’d learned that was a good way to get a snap out of Kate. Instead, he took the seat between them and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hesitantly bumping his nose beneath Shepherd’s jaw. The other Alpha tipped his head and rested it against the top of Jack’s with a sigh as they rode back to the ship where things made sense. 

~*~*~

They stopped at the armory to change into their uniforms before taking the elevator up to the crew deck to drop Jack off in search of his Alpha. When the door closed behind him, Jake looked at Kate and said, “You know that pack and comfort thing we discussed?”

That was all it took. A moment later, she was on him, shoving him back against the wall and dragging his head down to hers. He grasped her waist and pivoted. Her back hit the metal wall with a dull thud. He pinned her hands above her head with one of his own and trailed a finger over her jaw and down her neck. To his surprise, her head fell back, allowing him to loosely wrap his hand around her throat. He’d half-expected her to rip his head off for even trying.

The elevator stopped, so he released her only to hook his hands under her thighs and pick her up, nipping lightly at her shoulder. Half a dozen long strides carried him to the wide bed and he dropped down onto it, cradling her head. Her hands tugged insistently at his shirt, so he pulled back enough to allow her to pull it over his head. 

She raised up, allowing him to strip her shirt off. It joined his on the floor. His lips curled up as he took her in, noting the colorful edge of a tattoo over her shoulder, the music note he’d already seen on one wrist, the grasshopper on the other. He hesitated when his eyes caught on the dashed lines running down the veins in her wrists. 

“Ignore it,” she scowled, hooking her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her again. 

“Morbid sense of humor,” he murmured against her mouth. “I think I like it.”

“And they say I’m insane,” she smirked, attempting to throw her hips and roll the two of them. 

He settled deeper between her thighs and rocked against her, distracting her from the attempt. He wanted to feel all of that fiery little body against him, and he couldn’t do that if she rode him. 

“Clothes off. Now,” she ordered.

He nipped her full lower lip and said, “Mmm...when I’m ready.” 

“Fucking tease,” she grumbled.

“No. Just don’t see the need to rush it,” he said, gliding his hands up her ribcage to cup her soft breasts. 

He rolled her nipples between his fingertips, feeling them harden beneath his touch. She arched up into him, dragging her fingertips down his back. He hissed in a breath and she did it again, using her short nails this time. _Fuck, yes_. His hands left her breasts to frame her hips and he toyed with the button to her pants with his thumbs. Her belly sucked in, giving them room to dip below her waistband, and he stroked the smooth skin beneath. 

“C’mon, Jake,” she groaned. “Enough with the fuckin’ foreplay already.”

“Hasn’t anybody ever told you it’s about the journey, not the destination?” he asked, bending down to lightly catch her nipple between his teeth. 

“I don’t like road trips,” she said on a moan. 

“I don’t believe you,” he said, dragging his tongue down her sternum. 

Her fingers dove into his hair again and her hips jerked when he nipped them. He popped open the button on her pants and dragged the zipper down, his eyes following the wedge of bare flesh revealed. He sat back and tugged her boots off, noting the line drawing of a wave alongside her right heel. She grinned up at him, hooking her thumbs into the waistband and lifting her hips before slowly shimmying out of her pants. 

_Luna_, she was hot. 

She gasped when he lowered his head and trailed his lips and tongue up the inside of her calf. Her muscles flexed as he licked behind her knee and then drew his tongue up the inside of her thigh, moving up to nip at the flesh of her pubis. She groaned and her head fell back, bright red hair splaying across the white pillowcase. 

She tasted tangy, her silky skin already coated in slick, and her sharp moan when he finally reached her center and fluttered his tongue over her nub had him straining against his pants. He wanted to hear more of those sounds, wanted to hear her cry his name as he mounted her, knotted with her.

He nibbled his way up her belly, pausing at her breasts again, and unfastened his uniform pants, kicking off his boots. When he reached her mouth, she tried again to roll them and again he stopped her. Her hands trailed over his chest, tweaking his nipples and making his breath catch, and then her mouth was on his neck, nipping its way down to his collarbone. She slid her hands around his waist, tucking them beneath his pants, and cupped his ass. He jerked his pants down and his head fell back and his eyes closed as her warm, calloused hand wrapped around him, pausing to run her finger around his PA and over the looser skin at his base where his knot would form. Her hand slipped down to cup his balls, squeezing gently, and a groan tore from his chest. 

“That one’s always hit or miss,” she said, sounding pleased. He looked down to find her eyes glittering up at him with amusement in them. 

She was entirely too pleased with herself. He drew a finger between her legs, gratified to see her concentration waver. He circled her nub with a fingertip, close but not touching, not yet, and slipped it down to dip into her wet heat. She clenched around his finger, arching her back. Fucking Christ, that felt good. It would feel even better when he was knotted deep inside her.

He stroked her, seeking out and finding the slightly firmer patch of skin inside, just above her internal knot. She cried out, throwing her head back and drawing a knee up. Her toes curled, clenching the sheets, and her breath came in ragged gasps. Blue lightning flickered over her skin, wreathing her in a corona of dark energy. His barrier flared in response, and he concentrated the energy in his fingers as he slipped another into her. 

“Oh, fuck, Jake!” she moaned, her knot clamping down around him. Her hips bucked and she finally loosened enough that he thought he could take her without hurting her. 

He wrapped her legs around his waist, kneeling between her thighs, and lined himself up with her. Her hands came to rest on his hips, drawing circles in the hollows with her thumbs. She bit her lip and nodded. He sank into her, relishing the hot, silky slide as her body accepted his. He gave her a moment to adjust once he was fully seated in her. When her hands came around to cup his ass again, he propped himself over her on a forearm and slid his hand into her hair, tugging her head back to kiss her deeply as he began to move. 

He rolled his hips, delving into her before withdrawing slightly and pushing deeper. She stretched around him, enveloping him like she was fit to him. Her thighs tightened around his waist as she caught his rhythm and began to move with him. Her fingers dug into his ass, pulling him deeper into her with every stroke. He conceded to her demand for more while maintaining his steady pace. She felt too fucking good to rush this and have it be over. The events of the day were fading with each thrust into her warm, willing body. 

She writhed beneath him, riding him from below, and he broke from her mouth to bury his face in the juncture of her neck and shoulder. When his teeth closed over the crook of her neck, one hand left his ass to fist in his hair, holding him in place. Her breath came in rapid, singing gasps, spurring him on. No better sound in the world than a woman fighting for control. 

He released her shoulder to nip at her ear as her barrier flared again, wreathing them both in crackling blue light. Hers felt like fire and lightning, burning him without leaving a mark. Her hand slid down to cup his balls again, vibrating them with her biotics. 

“Oh, fucking...Luna!” he groaned against her hair, driving into her hard and fast. 

She rose up to meet him as her moans sharpened. He wasn’t going to last much longer with her moving like that. Taking a chance, he dragged his hand down, finding the amp port at the base of her skull, and gingerly brushed his thumb over it. Her body tensed like a livewire, sparking and crackling with dark energy as she finished and tightened around him, her knot seeking his. 

His pace faltered, his hips driving into her in an unsteady rhythm as the wave rose and broke over him. He groaned into her hair again, his body tensing and back arching as he buried himself in her. His knot swelled and hers pressed into the sensitive bundle of nerves at its base, milking him into her. 

He fought to catch his breath, his fingers tracing small, light circles over her scalp, stirring her hair. She sighed, going boneless against him with her head tucked against his chest. He rolled onto his side, draping his arm over her torso, and told himself he’d get up as soon as they were untied. He didn’t stay the night. Opened up too many expectations. 

His body had other plans, though. Wrapped in her warm, homey scent, surrounded by a nest of pillows and blankets that now smelled like the two of them, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	10. Stand Alone

_"Somebody turned off all the lights. Try to steal like a parasite. But they can’t take away the fight, 'cause I've been wild since I been a kid. Live life hanging off the grid. No, I aint never ever gonna quit. Gotta work for it, work for it every day, work for it._

_I stand alone, can’t get much higher. It’s in my bones, the true survivor. I stand alone. I keep on rising up to the throne. I won’t stop fighting 'cause I stand alone."_

_-'Stand Alone' Generdyn feat. Zayde Wolf_

* * *

"So," Kate said as they lay in bed a few nights later, “we're telling you our story. What's yours? You are getting to know us, but we still know very little about you.”

“My story isn't really a happy one,” Jake said, threading his fingers through her silky red hair.

He hadn't slept in his own cabin in days, which he was alright with. Kate was proving to be very generous as both a lover and as a packmate. He maintained his own space, but she didn't seem to mind that they'd turned hers into a base of operations for the pack. He was discovering that everything he’d thought about her in the beginning had been wrong. He’d badly misjudged her. After seeing the way that she interacted with them, he was no longer concerned about whether or not she was fit to lead the pack. He no longer believed that she would send them to their doom without just cause. What's more, he actually liked her.

She tipped her head back and looked at him. “Like ours are? None of us have happy stories, Jake. The thing that we’ve found, though, is that they aren’t over yet. We get to write the rest together. So I would like to hear how yours began.”

“Fair enough,” he conceded.

~*~*~

_Mindoir, 2169_

“Are you sure about this, Jake?” Johnny’s eyes, a clear crystalline gray that took on the shade of whatever was around him, looked down at him. “What if we fuck it up? I know we bought you a real one, so it’s not like you won’t be able to play anymore, but you saved up for years for this one.”

"I’m sure, _solnishka_,” he said with a warm grin, ruffling the other boy’s short hair. “You don’t trust me?”

Johnny ducked away and batting at his hand. “Cut it out, asshole. It’s _me _I don’t trust. What if I carve too deep? This isn’t like putting our initials in the tree.”

“You’ll do fine. Stop worrying, babe. I can’t carry the tree with me. This, I can keep.”

“You say that like you’re going somewhere,” Johnny said, his brow furrowing. “You live here. You know that, right? No one’s going to make you go back or send you away.”

“I know,” Jake said, the tip of his tongue peeking out between his teeth as he carefully plied the knife into the hard casing of the holo piano that was one of the few things he’d had time to grab before strangers in suits had herded him out of his mother’s house.

He hadn’t known where they were taking him when he’d come home from school to find the social workers waiting and his mother screaming at them in a mix of Russian and broken English. His face hadn’t healed yet from the beating she’d given him after finding him and Johnny fooling around together in his room a few days before, and they didn’t buy her story that he’d fallen off the roof—again—or that it had been an accident. Apparently, face-first falls from roofs didn’t leave gouges in the back of someone’s head in the shape of the corner of a religious text or handprints on people’s arms. Who knew?

He’d had ten minutes to collect everything he could carry into a duffel bag and swing it and his baseball bag with his bat, mitt, and uniform over his shoulder before being ushered out to a nondescript vehicle alongside a beta oozing what had felt like false sympathy at the time. They hadn’t told him where they were going. The settlement of Felicity didn’t have an orphanage because packs were supposed to take care of their young, but their pack was only two people and there weren’t many in the settlement who’d be willing to take in a biotic freak like him.

He’d expected to be shuttled off to a different Mindoirian settlement at best, or another colony or Earth at worst. Instead, the car had pulled up in front of the Shepherds’ house and Johnny had been at the door with his parents behind him before Jake had registered what was happening. They'd called Child Protective Services when they’d seen him after the beating. The social worker said they’d been the first—and only—ones to volunteer to take him.

Johnny’s parents were talking about adoption if he got taken from his mother for good. If it didn’t go through, though, he could be taken away at any time. If that happened, he wanted something of Johnny to take with him.

Jake passed the holo piano to Johnny and watched as the bigger Alpha painstakingly carved a J beside his own. The look of intense concentration on his face and the sound of his deep voice when he showed Jake his work triggered something soft and warm in his chest. They’d known each other since they were little kids and he’d had a crush on him for years now, but it wasn’t until his biotics presented that Johnny had really noticed him.

They’d been dating ever since, but hadn’t bonded yet, though Jake was beginning to be able to faintly pick up things that Johnny felt strongly. They were trying to wait. Felicity was a decent-sized settlement for Mindoir, but it was still small enough that everyone knew everyone else. Jake didn’t want Johnny settling for him because he was the best of a small pool of options. That didn’t mean he didn’t want him. He was head over heels for him. And from what he could feel from Johnny when they looked in each other’s eyes, the feeling was mutual. 

Jake leaned in and dragged his nose behind Johnny’s ear, making the other boy chuckle and moan softly. It would have been rude to do to anyone else, but Johnny didn’t mind it and he smelled so _good_. The other boy’s clear gray eyes darted to his, taking in his grin and the slight possessiveness in his stance that he couldn’t quite tamp down. His lips brushed over Jake’s, warm and soft, their hands coming to rest on the top of the piano.

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Wait," Kate said. “You weren't always part of the Shepherd pack? Where was your father? Why was there no one else to stop your mother before she mistreated you that badly? Were the Shepherds human or werewolf?”

Jake stopped and looked at her, amused by her questions. She’d rolled onto her side with her head propped on her fisted hand, listening intently. Her other hand traced patterns on his skin at random. He doubted she even realized that she was doing it until her fingertips went to the Star Trek symbol over his heart. Her emerald eyes went from the symbol to the party streamers on his hip before flicking over the music note and grasshopper tattooed on her wrists. He suddenly knew that he had not heard all of her story yet.

This was his turn though, so he answered her and pushed his own questions aside. “No. My birth name is Yakov Pryczmatrivet. The Shepherds adopted me when I was fifteen and I took their name. My father died when I was very young. I don't really remember him. The rest of their family was on Earth, so our pack was only my mother and me. There were no humans on Mindoir. We were a breeding colony. Before the raid, I had never met one.”

“I can't even imagine that,” she said. “We were so rare where I was from that when my pack abandoned me for being biotic, and I was found roaming the streets in natural form. I was taken to the pound and put in a cage. I didn't have enough control over my shifts yet to be able to go back into human form while I was afraid, so I'm just lucky that they didn't put me down and instead were planning to try to get me to a wildlife reserve or a zoo. The workers were terrified the following morning when they came in and found me lying on the floor as a child. They thought that I had snuck in somehow and let the wolf out.”

“If you want to get away from humans, the ExoGeni colonization corporation has over a dozen colonies that are nothing but werewolves,” he told her. “No humans allowed.”

She nodded and traced her finger over the Star Trek symbol again. “Do you miss it? Would you go back? Is there anything to go back to?”

“Yes and no,” he said. “It isn't the same. I've been there to see the memorial and to try to say goodbye, but there is nothing there for me. If I had a pack that lived there, I would go home. But that home would have to have a bunker if I were to ever have pups. I don't know that I could rest easily there for fear of it happening again.” His voice turned wistful. “Planets with blue skies never look right to me though. Whether I go back not, I want to find a place with a pink sky overhead.”

“Do you want pups?”

“Someday,” he said. “As long as I can keep them safe.”

“What happened?” she asked. 

~*~*~

  
_Mindoir, 2170_

Jake stared out the window of the bus carrying his baseball team, willing it to move faster, to get him back to Johnny. His mate. Jake and his team had gone to the next settlement over for a baseball game. Johnny had broken his leg and hadn’t been able to come. They were on their way home, jovial and spirited after a win that would take them to the colony-wide tournament, which was in two weeks and the doctor had said Johnny could play in. 

The win wasn’t what had Jake floating, though. Johnny was _his_, and he was Johnny’s. Complete with bite marks. They weren’t fully bonded yet. Sixteen was too young for that even if they had been through their first ruts—during which Johnny’s brother and sister had taken them to separate friends’ houses to keep them from seeking each other out—but it meant something.

The bite was a claim, a promise that they’d do it when the time was right. Johnny had been the one to ask for it, his pale eyes gleaming, and Jake hadn’t been able to tell him no. He hadn’t wanted to. Whatever Johnny saw in him, he’d insisted it wouldn’t change, no matter what other Alpha might come along. It was enough for now that he could feel him, a low-level awareness that let him know his mate was waiting for him and that someday they would form their own family pack, even if they would have to adopt their kids. 

Sirens ripped through the blue sky day.

The driver stopped the bus on the side of the road while Coach turned on the comms to check emergency channels. The omegas on the bus shrank into their seats, their pheromones projecting unease, while the alphas postured and tried to look brave. The betas didn’t seem to notice, openly focused on the distress signals pouring in.

Frantic voices overlapped each other as multiple settlements reported. “Lucerne, three pirate ships spotted in orbit…”

_A raid! _

“Strasburg, we got five ships coming in…”

_Not Felicity, please, not Felicity.... _The thought he was sure was on everyone’s mind.

“Jamestown, two ships have landed, more coming in! Repeat, two ships have landed…”

_Not Felicity, please fuck, not Felicity._

“New Paris, it’s batarians. They’re everywhere!”

Terror speared through him, doubling him over. Not his. Johnny’s. _Johnny! _No. No no no. Johnny had to be safe. They had to move. Now. If they hurried, maybe they could--

“Felicity, six ships in orbit.”

_ Johnny_.

He activated his omni-tool as the acrid scent of dread filled the bus, a little of the tension flowing out of him when Johnny’s face appeared on the screen. He was in a half-shift and his ears were flat with fear, but he was alive and looked safe. 

Johnny’s voice was urgent when he said, “Jake! Where are you? Are you safe?”

“For now. You’re okay,” he said, tracing the image with a fingertip. Johnny was in his room. Jake could see the poster of the _Enterprise _on his wall. “We’re stopped outside of town. They won’t move the bus, but I’m going to—” A shout in the background interrupted him.

“They’re here,” the other boy whispered, his eyes widening.

“Run!” he shouted. “Find somewhere to hide. I’m coming. I promise I’ll come for you.”

The young Alpha’s voice was high and thready, but resolute. “No. Fuck that. Our pack is here. We’ll fight if we have to. Come home, Jake. We’ll stand together.”

_No. No no no. Please, God, no. _His friends gathered behind him, looking over his shoulder. Ronnie bit the side of his thumb, casting a worried look at him. 

Jake fought to keep his own voice steady. “You can’t beat them. Please, baby. Don’t try to fight. _Please _hide. _Now_. Grab Hannah and go to the closet or under the bed or out the window or _something _so they can’t find you.” When Johnny didn’t move, he shouted, “_Go_, Johnny!”

The bedroom door ruptured open with a bang that reverberated through the bus, drawing the attention of the rest of the team. Hannah leapt into view as Johnny snarled and lashed out. The image shook violently enough that Jake could do no more than listen to the fight, doubling over the screen with hot moisture raining down his cheeks. 

“Johnny. Baby. _Solnishka._ Johnny, please.” 

Furniture crashed. A gun boomed. His mate’s pain was overwhelming, starbursting through him. The screen went still, showing a spray of red blood spattered like paint across the ceiling.

And then there was nothing. Silence where joy had lived. 

Two days later, his arm in a sling from a trio of batarian bullets he’d taken in his shoulder while trying to get back to Johnny, his skin drawn and tight from dehydration after he’d lain mere yards from his home for more than thirty-six hours, Jake stood on trembling legs in front of the bodies of his new pack and would-be mate. 

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“I buried Thomas, Hannah, Will, and Johnny in a mass grave in the backyard under the tree with our initials in it,” Jake said. “Johnny’s older sister, Maxine, was never found.”

Kate’s hand moved up to gently stroked his cheek and she leaned in, brushing her lips over his. empathy compassion, understanding, and an undercurrent of grief colored the scent that wrapped around her, saying more than her words ever could.

“I'm so sorry, Jake,” she murmured. “I thought I knew loss better than anyone, but I can't imagine losing your whole world and everyone you know. The fact that you're still sane and you didn't turn to drugs or crime is a testament to who you are.”

“It isn't really,” he said. “It's a testament to Seth. Without him, I would have lost my mind.”

“What was he like?” She settled in closer to him with her thigh over his knee. “You said he was a beta.”

“The biggest dam beta I had ever seen,” he said with a laugh. “He towered over most of the Alphas and was built like a brick shithouse with this long, thick hair. So everyone just assumed that he was an alpha even though they couldn't smell him. He was also very soft-spoken and kind. His mother used to joke that he was a beta because he had the body of an Alpha and the temperament of an omega. He got me through the worst days of my life even though he was only sixteen himself.”

“He sounds exceptional,” she said warmly. 

“He was,” he said, looking up at the stars through the viewport above her bed. “I didn't deserve him. He put up with so much from me. I didn't talk to him. I shut him out. I refused to tell him anything about myself. I forced him into a position where every interaction that we had connected back to something he didn't understand and I refused to explain. History permeated every aspect of our lives, but I insisted on trying to make him pretend that nothing had happened before we met. I thought that the only way that I could function was by never looking back; but in reality, it was still there, of course, chasing me like a thresher maw I couldn't get away from, ready to devour me at the slightest misstep. He recognized that and did his best to keep me from falling into the darkness until he got swallowed up himself and I finally saw what I was doing to him.” 

~*~*~ 

_Anhur, 2176_

Jake leaned against the window frame of the small apartment he was sharing with Seth on Anhur, looking out over the colony. Industrial rather than agrarian, the twisted trees dotting the arid landscape nevertheless reminded him of those on Mindoir. There was one across the street that had leaves the exact color of the one that held the treehouse in the backyard at the Shepherds, the one he’d carved his initials into with Johnny. 

They’d only been here a few days and would hopefully only be here for a few more. The undercover mission to turn the tide of the civil war that had raged on the planet for the past two years was the last step of their N5 training. Set squarely in the Terminus Systems, Anhur lacked an Alliance presence, so they were posing as a pair of mercenaries out of Omega. If the instructors had deliberately set out to try to find a mission that would break him, they couldn’t have picked a better one than this. 

Humans had come to Anhur for cheap labor, freedom from regulations, and dearth of laws and taxes. Within a decade, they’d realized that they couldn’t compete with batarian companies because of their lack of need for things like salaries for their staff, so they’d abolished the minimum wage, allowing companies to set their pay rates as low as they wanted. Combine that with company housing and general stores providing goods on company credit and slavery had once again become effectively legalized on a human world, which made these humans just as bad as the batarians in his eyes. 

Not everyone agreed with the practice. Laborers outnumbered executives and politicians five to one and since they weren’t being paid in real credits, they couldn’t afford to leave. Those who were capable of doing so had risen up against their new masters. The executives and politicians had sided with the batarians in fighting to keep their slave labor. The resulting civil war had been violent and bloody. 

The morning they’d arrived, they’d gone in with the militias as part of a merc company to raid a warehouse yard where people were being housed in conditions he wouldn’t have allowed his goat, Katya, to experience when he’d been a teenager back home. Inside the warehouse, werewolves had been thrown together at random without a care to compatibility or consent, and forced to breed. 

He’d seen three alpha males fighting over a female in heat, pregnant omegas without an alpha protecting or helping them, an alpha ripping a pup from its beta wet nurse’s arms to dump with a guard because it wasn’t his and he wanted the beta. The air had reeked of filth and hormones and blood. It had made him sick and he hadn’t been able to look at Seth while they’d been in there for fear that instinct would take over and drive him to attempt to protect him when he didn’t need it. Once rescued, the people had walked out of the warehouses and into the fresh air like people waking from a daze. 

The day before, they’d gone up against a batarian faction that was raiding one of the human company housing neighborhoods to steal slaves. They’d torched houses and dragged people from them, loading them in trailers like animals, killing those who couldn’t work, and having their way in the streets with omegas and alphas alike. 

The scent of human blood, burning flesh, and the distinctive acrid smoke of burning prefabs had thrown him so violently back to Mindoir that he’d had to remind himself that Johnny was dead and grabbing Seth and running while he had the chance wouldn’t change the outcome for anyone he’d loved, but _would _cause more Johnnys and Wills and Maxines to be lost. He’d searched every face he’d seen for his surrogate big sister. 

He hadn’t spoken in the almost sixteen hours since they’d returned to the prefab apartment, reverting back into the silence that had surrounded him for the first year he’d lived with Seth’s family on Earth. Seth had tried comforting him but had given him a wide berth after he’d stiffened and pulled away. He _wanted _to lean on him. He wished that he could. But this was too big. They had a job to do and if he let Seth touch the cracks, he would shatter. There was no way in hell he would let his guard down here with rampaging batarian slavers raiding and pillaging and burning. 

“You should eat.” The voice was soft for such a big man. There was nothing about Seth that screamed ‘beta’ but for his lack of scent. He was taller and bulkier than most alphas. Until they’d joined the Alliance, he’d worn his thick, honey brown hair cascading down his shoulders and a beard that had been thick even at seventeen. 

Jake shook his head without looking back at him. His steel-gray eyes remained locked on the street, scanning for any signs of movement or anything out of place. In the distance, an orange glow lit the horizon. Another team was handling it. They were waiting for contact with one of the Alliance’s other operatives within the rebellion now. There was nothing he could do. It ate at him, but the instinctive side of his brain insisted that he keep Seth as far away from that glow as he could. He was usually better at letting his mate be autonomous and he didn’t generally worry about him as much. Seth was more than capable. But here, he was on high alert, utterly terrified of losing the only family he had left. 

“Jake—” Seth began to argue. 

Jake cut him off with a warning growl. The solicitousness was well-intentioned and likely even Seth’s own instincts coming to the fore, but he was on the verge of panic at the horrible, familiar scent that permeated the colony and came in through the air filters and the seams in the walls. A scent that he’d hoped to never smell again. A scent that made the trio of bullet wounds in his right shoulder ache and had him painfully aware of the tattoo branded over his heart. If he tried to eat now, it would just come back up. No matter how he tried to cover it up, the scent of his own personal hell remained seared in his nostrils. 

Three days. He’d lain on the ground for nearly three days, caked in the blood of his friends, bleeding from his wounds that would have killed him if he’d been human, baking in the hot Mindoir sun, his fur the only thing keeping his skin from blistering and peeling, his mouth parched, dehydration and blood loss and shock steadily picking up the pace to see which would kill him first. 

Maxine had managed to get away and hide. She found him like that and had just enough time to slather him in medigel before a batarian had flanked her and grabbed her. Jake had tried to stop it, but he couldn’t move. It had been another twelve hours before anyone had reached him. In his delirium, he’d tried to rip off the medigel, hoping to bleed out. Maxine had done her job well, though, and Jake had survived it. If he thought about it for too long, his knees wouldn’t hold him. 

“Please talk to me, baby,” Seth begged behind him. 

His voice and scent were closer and Jake tensed in anticipation of a touch. He couldn’t handle it right now, damn it. Why couldn’t he see that? He knew what it meant when he got like this, when the words caught in his throat and wouldn’t come, when he had too much to say and nothing at all. He’d heard about Mindoir in the news, knew that Jake had come from there, knew that he’d had to leave the room whenever a report had come on for years after he’d gone to live with them. He knew Jake couldn’t talk about it.

“Goddamn it!” the beta snapped. 

Now, Jake did turn to look at him, shocked. Seth had never snapped at him. Soft-spoken and gentle as a giant teddy bear, Seth would never have chosen to be a soldier if it hadn’t been for him. He would have gone on to run his parents’ restaurant and lived a quiet life in Atlanta. It stunned him even more when his mate threw the cup he held at the door, far enough away to not trigger a response from him, but close enough to let him know that he was absolutely the source of the beta’s ire. 

Seth’s hazel eyes were pleading but defiant when he shouted, “Why won’t you just fucking _let me in?! _” 

“I...can’t,” Jake forced out in a voice that sounded like broken glass. “I can’t...just..._talk _about it.”

“Do you think I don’t know that this is about Mindoir?” Seth demanded, tears spilling down a face more suited to laughter than crying. “Do you think I didn’t know the hell that every step we took yesterday was for you? That I didn’t feel every bit of your distress? That I don’t know you’re afraid for me right now? I don’t need you to tell me. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the pictures and the vids and the news reports. I’ve seen the scars and I’ve heard you talk in your sleep. I’ve woken you up when you’ve been screaming in the middle of the night, and I’ve brought you water when someone burned popcorn and it made you sick. I’ve never understood that one till yesterday, but now I do and I don’t _need _you to _say _anything. 

“But for God’s sake, don’t shut me out! Let me _touch _you! Let me hold you! Let me stand fucking watch with you so you don’t have to do it by yourself. Just let me do _something _to comfort you, Jake, because you are going through hell and I promised you wouldn’t have to do it alone again! How can I be bonded to you if you only let me be there for the good parts? Please, Alpha, _let me in! _”

Jake shattered. 

His carefully crafted walls, already breached by their situation, came crumbling down at his mate’s heartfelt plea. Jake’s face crumpled, his knees giving out. He slid down the wall onto his ass and buried his face in his knees, trying to hide his weakness. Seth was beside him in a heartbeat, strong arms around him and nose tucked under his jaw, shifting them so that he was supporting Jake’s weight. 

Jake pressed his face against Seth’s broad shoulder, his own shoulders shaking with the force of the sobs ripping themselves from him. He clung to the beta as pain swelled like a tidal wave and crashed down over him, taking his breath away. Grief wracked his body until he gagged, dry heaving, and snot ran down his face. When he would have pulled away, Seth merely wiped his face with a sleeve and held him close. 

“It’s alright, baby,” he murmured. “Get it out. Let it go. It’s just me and I’ve already seen it all, remember? I was there then and I’m here now. We’re alright. We’ll be alright. We’re safe. You’ll keep me safe. I trust you. It’s not your fault. None of it’s your fault. You’re okay.”

“I l-love you,” Jake hiccupped what felt like hours later. “Don’t deserve you. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’ll never have to find out, love,” Seth promised. “I’m not leaving you. ...I’m never eating popcorn again, though.”

Jake gave a weak laugh. “Thank god,” he sighed. “Finally.”

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Less than a year later, he died in my arms,” he said, barely able to get the words out. “I can’t tell that story.”

Grief, massive and overwhelming, reared its head and opened its gaping maw. Before he could fight it down on his own, Kate's arms were around him and she was holding him close. Her fingers circled his hair and a soothing purr rumbled in her chest. She rocked some slightly back and forth, crooning to him the way that Johnny had the night he'd been taken from his mother. No one had comforted him since Anhur. 

“Easy, _caro_,” she said quietly, “it’s alright. You aren't alone anymore. I understand the fear. We all do. We all know just how quickly life can change and how easily the ones we love can be taken from us. And we know how frightening it is ourselves up and let someone new in. It's too late for me where Kaidan and Jack are concerned, but opening up to you is terrifying. Because less than a year from now, any one of us could be dead and I'm not sure that any of us could handle it.”

“I can't,” he whispered. “I can't do it again. I won't survive it. It's too big.”

She drew back to look at him before pressing her forehead to his and nuzzling it. “You are pack now, Jake. In a pack full of people for whom the only thing left to lose is each other.” 

She pointed to the grasshopper and music note and the flames climbing up her side before tracing the dashed lines that covered her veins on the inside of her wrists. “You've heard how Alex died, but you don't know who he was to me. ‘Mate’ wasn't quite the right word. before he was part of my war pack, Alex and I led a family pack.”

“I thought you were an orphan,” he said, thankful for the distraction.

“After the pound figured out that I'm not what they thought, they sent me to an orphanage for humans where I was locked up on the full moon and basically treated in general like an unwanted pet. When another wolf girl came and the Headmaster started looking at her in ways that he shouldn't have, I grabbed her and ran. We lived feral on the streets for a couple of years until Alex found us and introduced me to the Tenth Street Reds. 

“After my first heat, he made me co-Alpha, even though we were just friends. I kept taking in orphaned young wolves. Eventually, we made a decision that the rest of the pack didn't like. But instead of going after us, they went after the young. We killed them all, and then we joined the Alliance because we had nothing else to do. We didn't tell anyone else about our history. It was our little secret. 

“We lost touch for a long time because I couldn't look at him without thinking of them. And if I thought too hard about them, I would follow the dashed lines on my wrists. Shortly after I met Kaidan and we started working together, Alex and I ran into each other again. This time, we were adults and our history served to bond us instead of pushing us apart. We'd been officially mated for six months before we got sent to Torfan.”

“Star-crossed lovers,” he said with a nod. “The story of my life.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But as we've already established, you get to write the ending.”


	11. Wildest Ones

_"When I was young, my mother said, 'There is a savage that is hiding in your head.' I felt rebellion. I came alive when I embraced the reckless one that's deep inside._

_Fire won't change a man, but the wild will. Yea we are the wildest ones. Yea we're just the ones that you know."_

_-'Wildest Ones' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Jake stood in front of the QEC with the Ryder twins, who’d been on his team for the latest mission on Noveria, and Kate and Kaidan behind him. Both Hackett and Anderson were in front of him on holo. The twins had proven themselves down there, taking on a facility that was more militarized than scientific, at least on the surface. They hadn’t met resistance like that before on this mission and hadn’t had any reason to expect this one to be any different. They’d rolled with it, though, and he never would have guessed that they hadn’t seen real action before.

“They’re _what_?” Hackett asked.

“They’re planning to use the modified wolves to go after the Council,” Jake repeated. 

Anderson stroked his chin and said slowly, “That does fit with what Shepard learned from Intel about Cerberus. Pro-human, which often translates into anti-werewolf and anti-alien. If they send these ‘wolves’ after the Council, then that is what the aliens will associate with us, which will make humanity the obvious choice to deal with the problem. It will also turn the tide against us at home and ensure human dominance in Alliance space.”

“We have to stop them,” Kate said.

“Agreed,” Hackett said. “Your mission remains the same but with one addendum: Stop Cerberus _at all costs_. If they get these creatures onto the Citadel, more than just humanity will suffer for it.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” they said in unison, snapping off a salute. 

“Do me proud. Hackett out.”

Half an hour later, Jake flopped down onto Kate’s couch beside Jack and looked up at him. “Did you miss being an Alpha?”

Jack scoffed and raised an eyebrow at him. “Would you miss it if you woke up tomorrow without a knot and with slick pouring out your ass any time you got turned on?”

“Yep,” Jake said without needing to contemplate it.

“Yeah,” Jack laughed. “The first...six months?” He looked to Kaidan for confirmation. “K basically kept showing up to drag me out of a bottle. I wasn’t at all appreciative.”

~*~*~

_Arcturus Station, 2178_

  
Jack took another swig of...some krogan swill he’d found tucked away on the bottom shelf at the Shoppette on the corner for ten credits. It was as far as he was willing to go today and he’d gotten groped just doing that much. Fucking Alphas. 

It wasn’t the werewolves that were the problem. Kaidan had said that they by and large respected omegas and felt a responsibility for them—which on its own still rubbed him the wrong way; see, he could make wolfy jokes, too—and he’d been telling the truth. It was the _humans _he didn’t understand. He knew from Laramie that it happened. He just never understood just how _much _it happened. 

He held the bottle up and eyed the green liquor, blinking and squeezing an eye shut in an attempt to make it not so damn _blurry _so he could figure out how much drunker he could get, but his face wasn’t cooperating, so he just tipped it up and slugged another draught of liquid fire. 

He still _felt _like an Alpha, damn it! At least, until he looked close enough at his dick or Alenko came around and his ass got wet. His cheeks were getting pruny from _that _particular phenomenon. That wasn’t a problem he’d ever anticipated having. 

He was almost finished with the bottle and it wasn’t going to be enough. He could still think. Fucking biotics. He didn’t even use them. He was an engineer for Christ’s sake. If only he could engineer himself a never-ending bottle of liquor.

Calling up his omni-tool, he recorded a message. “Hey, ‘Lenko. Kaid’n. If you go get me some rin...rink… rin...cole... wrinkle… that green shit the krogans drink. I’ll make you a pie. Not tonight, though, ‘cause ‘m drunk. And I wouldn’t exactly make it ‘cause I can’t remember how to cook. But I’d _buy _you a pie and that’s better. Rin-cole for pie. Fair trade. Hop to it. _All_-phah!”

He closed his omnitool and took another shot, then opened it again to call Laramie. He hadn’t gotten to see Lyanna since he’d been turned. Ramie might not understand, but Lyanna would. If that cunt didn’t turn her against him. He had to call her and tell her not to turn his daughter against him.

A knock at the door stopped him. Who the fuck was here at...thirteen hundred. They should be at work like a normal person. Wait, he called Alenko. It was probably Alenko with more booze. He’d taken it away the last couple times, but this time he’d do it. Kaidan _loved _pie. 

He stood and the room rocked, so he sat and unlocked the door from his omni-tool. It was Kaidan, he saw as the Alpha walked in, bringing his Alpha scent with him. But his hands were empty. Jack looked him in the eye and defiantly finished the last of what was in his bottle.

“If you came to take it, you’re too late,” he informed him. “‘Sall gone. An’ I buy a mean cherry pie. You love cherry pies. I know you do.”

“You’re wasted, Sheppard,” Kaidan said, coming over and taking a seat at the tiny table with him. “As a matter of fact, you’re _so _wasted that when I tried to tap in to check on you, _my _vision doubled and I almost fell over.”

“I can get you drunk by proxy,” Jack laughed. “Tha’s pretty cool. You’d be fun drunk. So tight-laced all the time. Let loose, K. Lemme in.” He tapped his own head and grinned at him. “Open up that noggin’ an’ get sloshed wi’me.”

“I think you’re drunk enough for the both of us,” Kaidan said. “One of us should stay sober.”

“You’re no fun,” he groused. “Stuffy, no-fun Alpha.”

“I’m not stuffy,” Kaidan protested.

“Uh huh. Stuffed. Shirt. Alpha.” He tried to tap the other man’s chest on each word, but Kaidan kept moving, so he got him in the shoulder, nose, and chin instead. “Stay still.”

“I’m not moving,” Kaidan said mildly. “You’re drunk. Wouldn’t you rather just talk about what’s wrong? You and I both know you’re struggling with the changes in your life.”

“Then there’s nothing to talk ‘bout, is there?” Jack said, waving a finger at him. “No need to talk if you already know it. No talk, only drink.”

“Did something new happen today?” Kaidan asked. 

He never should have messaged him. He wanted a drink, not the Kaidan Inquisition. He was too drunk to be funny and still too sober to look at it all, so he got up and stumbled over to the drawer beneath his bed, grabbing a bottle of batarian shard wine he’d squirreled away for a rainy day or an emergency. Kaidan Alenko sitting in his apartment asking him to talk about his feelings certainly qualified as an emergency.

“Jack, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kaidan said when Jack yanked the cork out of the bottle. 

“Then you shoulda brought me rin-cole,” he said, wondering if he was slurring yet. Nah. 

“You don’t need ryncol,” Kaidan said with a huff. “That stuff is poison. Your poor liver is probably pickled just from a bottle of it.”

“It’ll grow back,” Jack said dismissively.

“Not from cirrhosis,” Kaidan said. His voice hardened into the Alpha tone Jack used to use on Laramie when she was getting completely out of hand. “Sit down. Talk to me. Tell me what is wrong. And stop drinking.”

Jack snarled and threw the useless bottle against the wall. It shattered, spewing liquor and glass across his bed. “I don’t want to be a fucking _omega_, okay?! I didn’t ‘have it all’ by any fucking means, but I also didn’t get groped just walking down the goddamn street to the store or catcalled by people I used to play poker with or called a fucking knot slut because the humans don’t know jack shit about pack and think we’re basically married now and I take you up the ass whenever you want,” he railed.

“Okay,” Kaidan said calmly. “You’re completely justified in feeling that way. What can we do to make it better?” 

“What can you do?” Jack shouted. “You can get me another bottle of ryncol or go to hell, _Al-pha_.”

Kaidan didn’t flinch from his anger and he didn’t try to control him. He remained sitting, looking calmly up at him with those big golden hawk eyes that saw everything. “You haven’t gotten to see Lyanna yet,” he said calmly.

“Of course not,” Jack snapped. “I’m not going around her when I don’t know if I’m going to fucking sneeze and change form and maybe rip her throat out by accident. You saved me for my daughter and now I can’t even _touch _her and everyone else thinks they can fucking touch _me _instead!”

“So take me with you,” Kaidan said steadily.

“What?”

“Take me with you,” he repeated. “I can block you from shifting. You’ll be perfectly safe around her.”

Jack sank down into his chair and gaped at Kaidan. “You’d do that?”

“Of course,” he said. “All you have to do is ask, Jack. If it’s in my power, I’ll get it for you.”

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face, feeling like the biggest asshole in history. “I’m sorry. Kaidan, will you come to Earth with me so I can see my daughter?”

Kaidan smiled at him. “I’d like that.”

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

“Sounds like you had a lot to learn about pack dynamics if that offer surprised you,” Jake said, still on his back and looking up at the omega. “But then, it also sounds like you came from a much different culture. It’s terrible that the transition was so hard, but the more I hear about humans, the more I’m glad to be a were.”

“I’m glad of it now,” Jack said. “At the time, though, all I could see was how everything had changed. In trying to save everything, I’d lost it all. I took a lot of it out on Kaidan, but his patience for me has been infinite. I made his life very difficult for a long time, but he never complained. He never walked away. He never said ‘I can’t do this; you’re on your own.’ And you can say ‘pack’ all day, but I would have kicked my ass out years ago.”

Jake laughed. “He does have the patience of a saint, doesn’t he? We’re not all that good. If he’s your bar for us, most of us are going to fall short. Though, I think even the worst of us would still land higher than the humans.”

He tried to imagine being put in a similar situation to the one Jack had found himself in and couldn’t fully do it. It would be like...waking up without a dick. Or his eyes suddenly being green and getting treated differently because of it. The fact that he’d survived a change that _intrinsic _to himself and was still sane was astounding.

“So, did you get to see your daughter?” he asked. 

“Yeah, though Laramie didn’t like it much.”

“Ugh,” Kaidan groaned, coming in and sitting beside them. “_That _witch. Let me tell you how the first visit with that cunt went.”

Jake raised a brow and half sat, blinking at the other Alpha. “I can’t believe that word just came out of your mouth. I’d have thought you wouldn’t say shit if you stepped in it.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to think,” Kaidan said with a grin. “Seriously, though, I generally try to control my language, but this woman…. She is a very special kind of snowflake. Her commentary on the ship was just the tip of the iceberg. Have you ever looked at someone and realized that under the facade of a person, there's nothing there but calculation? Someone who's ultimately amused at what she can get away with and finds it especially entertaining when a select few people see through the veneer and yet can do nothing about it? That's Laramie.”

~*~*~

_Earth, 2178_

Jack stopped inside a corridor of an apartment building that reeked of human. He’d always thought the wolves all had the same distinctive, somewhat musky odor but that human scent was nuanced and unique to the individual. Now, all humans smelled vaguely the same, sour and musty like old sweat, and the wolves were the ones with the bouquet of scent that not only identified individuals but also their gender, bonding status, moods, general health, pregnancy, heat, rut, and so much more. 

His own kind smelled foreign to him. Would Lyanna? Would Cat? He hadn’t seen his twin since he’d been turned. He hadn’t been able to tell her. He doubted Laramie would have. The two women had hated each other since before he and Laramie had bonded. His sister had seen something in her that he hadn’t. 

Kaidan raised an expectant eyebrow at him and Jack said, “You know what, I wasn’t much of a dad to begin with. And she has Frank now. She doesn’t need me.” His eyes slid sideways as he contemplated whether he was going to break down if Lyanna was afraid of him now, but his voice remained light. “Although, I don’t know that I can really let her be raised by a guy named Frank. His mother clearly didn’t love him, so how is he going to know how to love my child?”

“Jack,” Kaidan started.

Jack shook his head. “It’s a dilemma. One I really should go back to Arcturus and contemplate. You know, ensure I’m acting in the best interests of my—what are you doing?”

Kaidan lifted his hand and knocked on the door. “Using humor to mask anxiety doesn’t work with us. I can smell it on you.”

“Yes, but the polite thing to do is ignore it and let me deal with it on my own,” he informed the alpha.

“We’re pack. We don’t deal with anything on our own,” Kaidan said as the door opened. 

Once, the sight of the woman with her bright blue eyes and long dark hair that fell just below mid-back—though she lied about that, too, and claimed it hit her waist even though it didn’t unless she bent her head—the curves and the impish smile would set his blood alight. It still did, though it wasn’t desire anymore. He hated her with the burning, fiery passion of all the suns in the Milky Way. 

Brightly, he said, “Ramie, what a joy. This is Lieutenant Alenko. Kaidan, Laramie Sheppard. Or did you take Frank’s name already? _Frank_, what a name.” 

“Why are you here?” she asked coldly, ignoring Kaidan except to wrinkle her nose like she smelled a wet dog. 

“I've got visitation every other Tuesday of the month when I’m on Arcturus. It’s Tuesday and I was on Arcturus,” he said.

“The court is not going to allow you to take her,” Laramie protested. “And I am certainly not letting her go anywhere with you or that rabid dog.”

“Well, it’s a good thing it’s not up to you, then, isn’t it?” he asked lightly, walking forward and herding her back so that he could go in before she closed the door in his face. She turned rather than backing away like she normally would have done, but he got inside either way, so he didn’t care how it happened.

A Husky and a German Shepherd bounded down the hallway, barreling into his legs. Roscoe and Monty! Seeing them was almost as good as seeing Lyanna. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around their necks, letting them sniff all over him. Their noses went to his scent glands, but they recognized him despite the change in his scent. 

He petted them as he continued, “Since the judge didn’t see fit to change the custody agreement before court, I still get my normal visitation with her, and you’re still banned from interfering. I know how badly that breaks your cold, dead heart, sugar, but you’re going to just have to deal with it.”

“How do I know you are not going to just bite her the moment you’re out of my sight?” she snapped. 

The facade of good humor faded away as rage erupted in his chest. The world narrowed down to pinpoints and his skin felt too tight. He stood, his lip curling. Behind him, Kaidan shifted and rumbled in a way that was normally soothing but now just made him angrier. The dogs whined and backed away.

“You think I would hurt my daughter?” he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

“You can’t be trusted!” she exclaimed, her voice going shrill. The sound, as always drove daggers into his head. 

“I can’t be trusted?” he demanded. His muscles spasmed painfully, but he didn’t have time or focus for them. “_I _can’t be trusted? You’re zero for three with Alphas so far, Laramie. You ever consider that maybe the problem is you?”

Electricity crackled around him, and he thought at first it was his biotics until he felt the ache in his bones that signaled the start of a shift. Panic joined the anger, making his skin ripple over muscle and bone. He coudn’t shift. If he shifted here, she’d use it to say he was out of control and he’d never get to see Lyanna again. But he was too far into it. He didn’t know how to stop it. 

_Alpha, help me!_

Kaidan stepped forward, moving until they were just barely touching, and the energy faded as if the Alpha had sucked it from him. The ache receded. His muscles relaxed. He sighed, home and safety and comfort replacing anger and fear.

Her voice went saccharine as she looked between them. “How does it feel to be the broodbitch to a dog? Does he mount you from behind like Roscoe used to do to Monty before we got him fixed?”

“I am _not _—” 

“Pappa!” 

Kaidan released him as little feet pounded down the hallway and a little girl with dark hair, dressed in a tutu and superhero cape, threw herself into his outstretched arms.

“Ly-ly! There’s my girl!” he hugged her tight to his chest, a knot in his core easing at the scent of her. She smelled more like an active child than he remembered, but she still smelled distinctly ‘Lyanna’. 

“Did you get all the bad guys?” she asked. “Are you home for good? Can we go get ice cream? You smell funny. What’s wrong with your eyes? Who’s that man?”

“I did get all the bad guys,” he said, addressing her questions one by one. “And I’m going to be home for a good while now. If you want ice cream, we’ll go get all the ice cream in Luxembourg! The man is my friend Kaidan. He’s going to get ice cream with us. And Pappa decided to get superhero laser eyes and now I can just shoot all the bad guys with them.”

“_Cool_!” she breathed. “I wanna see!”

“Well, it’s not safe to use them around civilians,” he said very seriously, love for her swelling until he thought his heart might burst. “I wouldn’t want to risk hurting an innocent, would I? Then I wouldn’t be a super_ hero_, I’d be a super _villain_, and that might be cool and all, but then you’d have to take me down and that’s just too much work for eighteen-hundred on a Tuesday when you’re six.”

Jack knew all about what was too much for a six year-old at eighteen-hundred on a Tuesday. He breathed a thanks to Alenko for making sure that Lyanna hadn’t had to learn the same lesson. He didn’t know what would be worse: seeing and knowing exactly what had happened, or knowing nothing and imagining all sorts of scenarios. 

“You are not taking her,” Laramie said.

“Why not!” Lyanna exclaimed. “I wanna go get ice cream with Pappa!”

“She means I’m not taking you till you go brush out that crazy mane of hair,” he said. “Do you want everyone to think you’re a werewolf?”

“Yes!”

_Oh, thank god. _“Well, then, never mind! We’ll go right now,” he said with a grin at her and a stern look to his ex-mate. “I’ll have her back in two hours. In the same condition I got her in. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with JAG.” Turning back to Lyanna without giving her a chance to respond, he said, “Say ‘bye’ to Mommy! We’ll see her again at bedtime.”

Lyanna’s little hand slipped into his and she waved at Laramie with the other. “Bye, Mommy!”

Kaidan gave her a polite, “Nice to meet you,” and slipped out the door into the corridor. 

At the doorway, Jack winked at Laramie. “A pleasure, as always.”

Fuck that cunt. He was taking his little girl for ice cream.


	12. Strike a Match

_"This is not so typical, the way it ends. When you start a fire, you can't just pretend that you don't love the feeling in your blood it brings. Strike a match, I'm gonna strike a match. Watch me strike a match and burn it down."_

_-'Strike a Match' by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Kaidan rubbed the spot above his eye, willing the impending migraine away. It wouldn’t be as big a deal if Kate and Jack were here, but she’d taken Jack and Cora down to Noveria as escorts for Suvi and Dr. Chakwas so that they could evaluate the labs Jake and the Ryders had found. Kade had looked them over, but it was outside her expertise. That left Kaidan on the ship with no pack but for the Alpha he still wasn’t entirely sure didn’t want him there at all. And he couldn’t even go to med bay. This was going to be a bad day.

He rubbed at his forehead again, trying to make his eyes focus on the screen in front of him. The words began to blur, halos interfering with his vision. It was going to be a bad one. There was never a good time for one of his migraines, but now was a particularly inconvenient one. He removed his amp in the vain hope it might help and tucked it into its case and in his pocket. 

He pushed through for another twenty minutes before the anvil banging on his head was too much to bear and he went to the lift to go crawl into Kate’s bed. She wouldn’t mind, and her scent was one he associated with pain removal. She’d learned how to control her biotics well enough to shield his nervous system from his implant, thus quarantining the source of his pain. She would hold it until he was sleeping deeply enough to sleep through the migraine. Jack refused to try, which Kaidan understood. He didn’t have any biotic training or even an amp. It would be too unreliable. 

The lift stopped on the bridge and Jake walked in, his attention on the datapad in his hand. He looked up when he smelled Kaidan and his eyes narrowed. The datapad dropped to his side. Concern permeated the other Alpha’s scent. 

“You smell like pain, Kaidan,” he said baldly, his voice sending daggers into Kaidan’s temple. “Are you alright?”

“Migraine,” he whispered. “Shhhh.”

Jake punched in the code for Shepard’s cabin and asked softly, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not unless you want to spend the next several hours till they get back holding my head in your lap and playing with my hair,” he said, leaning his forehead against his upraised arm against the cool metal of the lift.

“If that’s what you need,” Jake said.

He slipped an arm around Kaidan’s waist, helping him into the cabin they’d pretty much decided was communal space and onto the bed. Going into the bathroom, he came out with a glass of water and a pill. 

“It’s not much,” he said, “but something I saved after I had my wisdom teeth removed.”

Kaidan gave him a thumbs up with his eyes cracked open. The Alpha softly commanded the lights to dim and some of the tension went out of Kaidan’s shoulders. He accepted the pill and the water, taking it without asking what it was. It probably wouldn’t do much, but anything was better than nothing. 

The bed dipped as Shepherd sat down beside him and laid with his arm outstretched. Kaidan let him tug him back down and didn’t question when he pulled him into his arms and began gently stroking his hair, a soothing rumble vibrating the other Alpha’s chest. The scent of pack surrounded him, both Kate’s and Jake’s, and a little bit of Jack, too. Slowly, he relaxed. 

Shepherd’s hand in his hair was soothing, and it was even better when he began gently massaging around his amp port and back of his neck, working the muscles that always tensed. It didn’t relieve the pounding in his head, but it took away some of what made it worse. 

Kaidan nestled closer, burrowing into his chest, breathing in his musky, thunderstorm scent. The other Alpha curled around him, cocooning him in warmth and protection when he wasn’t in a position to protect himself. Kaidan relaxed fully into him and let his mind wander. For some reason, he kept going back to his first rut after Torfan. 

~*~*~

_Arcturus, 2179_

It was stupid. He knew it was stupid even as he paced the small apartment. He was surrounded by the omega’s scent. That was why he couldn’t get him out of his head. He just needed to get through this rut without doing anything utterly ridiculous, and then he could go back to his life and forget this stupid idea.

No way in hell was Jack Sheppard interested in him. 

Kaidan would know if he was, right? He’d turned him, created him. They were linked. He’d never gotten an inkling that Jack needed him as anything more than a mentor. The man was still in the midst of a nasty custody battle, was probably going to lose his daughter, and he was into omegas to boot. Never mind the fact that his entire world had been turned upside down, he still hadn’t accepted his omega status, and it was Kaidan’s fault he was in this situation in the first place. 

What else could he have done, though? The man had been dying. He couldn’t just leave him there. He couldn’t leave that little girl without her father. He’d made the only choice he could have under the circumstances. At least Jack didn’t seem to blame him. He’d turned to Kaidan as a mentor and possibly even a friend. That didn’t mean he wanted Kaidan’s knot buried so deep in his ass they couldn’t tell where Kaidan ended and Jack began. 

Another rush of heat washed under his skin. Thank Luna, Jack couldn’t pick up anything more from him than brief flashes of impressions as long as Kaidan stayed in his human form. No way in hell would he shift and risk the other man seeing what was in his head. Being part of a pack and linked the way they were could get awkward at times, but it was just a part of life as a werewolf and they all learned to ignore the occasional flash of too much information. He’d prepared Jack for what to expect and the omega shouldn’t be surprised at what did come through. He’d been through ruts of his own as a human. Sexual urges were to be expected. The images running through his head, though, were not something the omega needed to know about. Ever.

The flashes Kaidan was getting from Jack didn’t help, though. Frustration. Irritation. _Need_. He fought down the urge to message the omega with an offer to help take care of it. Jack had made it very clear that he didn’t want Alphas panting after him and the idea of sex as an omega repulsed and frightened him. Which was why Kaidan was here at Jack’s and Jack was at his place. His apartment smelled like Alpha. No one in their right minds would go there seeking someone in heat. Jack would be able to get through it without being harassed. Unfortunately, that meant Kaidan was trapped here, surrounded by the omega’s possessions—all smelling of him, of course—and there was just enough heat scent mixed in to set his hormones raging. 

His skin was burning, and Kate was still locked in the brig. If he could shift and was planetside somewhere, he’d be able to run himself exhausted, which was his favorite method. No. His _favorite _method had been the one time he’d gone through a rut with an omega partner, ironically enough. Micah had wanted to experience a heat and had asked Kaidan to guide him through it. He’d been young and curious and had agreed. Running in full shift was like trying to treat red sand withdrawals with a Weeping Heart. It took the edge off, but wasn’t really satisfying. 

He stripped his clothes on the way to the bathroom, leaving them where they dropped for a moment before going back and snatching them up. He tossed them on the counter by the sink and turned the shower on cold. It wouldn’t do much, but maybe it would cool the fire under his too-tight skin. Human form had never fully felt right to him and rut just made it worse. The freezing spray hit his flushed back, sending a rush of gooseflesh down his skin that almost felt like his fur trying to rise. He ducked his head under the water, letting his hair absorb it before shaking, sending droplets spattering over the walls of the tiny shower. 

Still, he burned. 

His hand made its way down to the erection that refused to subside until he’d knotted something. His toy was in the other room but close enough to get to if he needed it. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t warm enough and no amount of synthetic lubricant approached the real thing. It didn’t move around him. It didn’t beg for his knot. He could never do for himself what a partner could. But it _did _ensure that an already lackluster solo orgasm wasn’t downright painful. 

A few half-hearted strokes had him straining against his own hand, seeking something, _anything_, that would satisfy this urge. He should have anticipated the scent issue. He should have gone to Kate’s. She’d been locked up away from it long enough for the smell of her to have faded. Now, though, if he left the apartment, he’d end up doing something completely stupid. Like going to a bar in search of relief. He didn’t want a random Alpha female for a couple nights and one not in heat couldn’t keep up with him anyway. If he sought out one in heat, he ran the risk of ending up with pups and that wasn’t part of the plan. He wasn’t getting stuck with a mate chosen by nothing more than his hormones.

He shut the water off with a slap and brusquely dried himself before giving into temptation and turning toward the bed rather than the door. Jack’s scent enveloped him as he lay down on his back, his hardness mocking his lack of partner. No one had been _right _so far. Perhaps if Kate hadn't found Alex again or if Micah had lived. Kaidan hadn’t been confident enough before then to buck tradition, and having an omega mate was about as taboo as it got without crossing species. 

Now, though, he didn’t care what tradition said. He wanted a connection, a friend as well as a lover and a partner. He had the first with Jack, and he certainly thought the man was beautiful regardless of form. It didn’t matter that he was an omega. If only….

If they’d both been born weres and had both been single when they’d met. If only Jack was interested in Alphas. They might have flirted some, gone out on a few dates, kissed under a streetlamp or while drunk laughing in the back of a shuttle or mid-debate about something asinine. They’d have stumbled home to one of their apartments, falling through the door, already lost in each other, their hands roaming over and then under each other’s shirts…. 

Kaidan’s back arched as his fingers toyed lightly over his nipples before trailing down his abdomen, tracing the cherry tree that curled up his side. Maybe Jack’s hands and then his mouth would have followed it down, undoing his pants and peeling them down, focusing on the heart nestled in the roots over his hip. His fingers and his warm breath might have traced over his waistline before dipping lower. Kaidan toyed with the section of looser skin at his base that would accommodate his knot, his breath catching in his throat. 

His eyes drifted closed and his hands were no longer his own. Long, calloused fingers drew themselves up the underside of his shaft, circling his crown and wrapping around him. It was probably wrong to picture those warm brown eyes peering down at him, to imagine tracing the omega’s hairline, to wonder how those hands would feel when they stroked him. He certainly shouldn’t indulge in fantasies of rolling the other man over and sliding himself against his slick passage. 

He tried to clear his mind as he prepped the toy with the synthetic slick he’d kept warming in a bowl of water. Fantasizing about someone he knew, especially a friend, a member of his _pack_, seemed wrong. Disrespectful. But as he pushed into the toy, he couldn’t resist the temptation to imagine that it was Jack bent over and sinking back onto him, hot and slick and tight around him. Or, better still, rising up over him, that lean, muscular body moving on him as he rode him. Kaidan’s knee drew up, his heel digging into the mattress, his hips driving himself fast and hard into the toy, his breath coming in ragged moans. 

It wasn’t enough. The looser space for his knot wasn’t tight enough to stimulate the nerve endings around his base. His hand reached out, clutching the sheet and drawing it up to his nose. Nostrils flared, he breathed deep, the omega’s scent enough to push him over the edge. His knot swelled, filling the pocket, synthetic skin tightening around him. No. Jack’s skin. Jack moaning his name. 

Stars burst behind his eyes. His hand squeezed the toy, trying to simulate the sensation of Jack’s pocket flexing around him. Jack would fall back into his arms and he’d hold him, lips and hands exploring his skin, taking the time that their urgency had denied them before. Their fingers would link together, their heartbeats syncing, and it would be _home _and _pack _and _mate_. 

After several long moments, he collapsed back against the pillows, breathing heavily. The rut haze temporarily receded and he groaned, draping a forearm over his eyes and letting the toy fall onto the towel beside him. A stupid fantasy, brought on by hormones and the scent of a potential partner. That’s all it was. 

He didn’t believe himself anymore.

~*~*~

_Normandy, 2183_

Jake shifted, nuzzling at his hair and drawing him a little closer. The tangy, musky scent of him had sharpened, and Kaidan realized it probably hadn’t been a good idea to think of that particular memory while wrapped up in another male Alpha’s arms. Now he was turned on and in pain and embarrassed. 

And Shepherd smelled like desire.

Under normal circumstances, he would have pulled away, thanked Shepherd for his help and said he’d be fine from there, and then waited for Jack or Kate to return. But these weren’t normal circumstances. His head was killing him. He _ached _with need. The scent of unadulterated _want_, even Alpha want, was driving him mad. His hand stroked down the other man’s side, coming to rest on his hip. Jake didn’t push him away. 

A little bit of sense prevailed. He couldn’t do anything with him. Jack hadn’t given consent. Neither had Kate, and while she wasn’t his mate, he still felt he owed her the respect of giving her a voice. They were both Alphas. They’d probably both end up unsatisfied and wishing for a partner with a pocket.

He squeezed his eyes shut, blaming the migraine for putting crazy thoughts into his head. He was close to a packmate and was reading too much into the relief that it brought. That was all. He was too old for flights of fancy like this and was just lucky that Shepherd hadn't taken offense. The hands roaming lightly over his back and hips and hair were providing comfort, nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has elements of another one-shot I wrote set in this universe that was previously posted on Tumblr. All AU characterizations, concepts, etc are my own.


	13. Won't Ever Let You Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

_Sometimes gravity comes so fast I don't know where I'm falling to. Heartbeats are blinking. They go right past. But I know that one thing I need is you. Tell me, have we been losing time? Tell me I see that wonder in your eyes. Tell me, are we just trying to touch high again. I won't ever let you go. Don't ever stop believing._

_"Won't Ever Let You Go" by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

Kate and Jack stood against the wall near the doorway of one of the labs in the Noveria facility while Dr. Chakwas and Suvi analyzed what they were finding. The two women chattered with their heads together over things that neither she nor Jack fully understood. They had already cleared the facility and ensured that no Cerberus stragglers remained, but she hadn't wanted to send them down alone. Cora was elsewhere, monitoring for signs of incoming shuttles. 

For now, there was little that they could do but watch, and Kate found herself leaning closer to the omega, distracted by his presence. The six months that he had spent with his daughter had done him well. He looked more relaxed than she had ever seen him oh, and he seemed more comfortable with his status than he had before. 

It had taken him a long time to adjust, and he still didn't fully trust other Alphas. He seemed to have taken to Jake, though. She had been surprised by how candid he was when telling the new Alpha his story. 

Some of it was still hard for her to hear because it brought back memories of Alex, but she had realized when Kaidan spoke of him that she could no longer remember what he even looked like without looking at a holo. She couldn't remember his voice. She couldn't remember his favorite color. She had buried him for so long that she was mourning someone who no longer existed, even in her memory.

Kaidan had moved on after Micah, even though he’d thought he never would. He was happy now, though; there was no doubt about that. But he also had the luxury of not having to be the one to make the hard calls. Those fell to her. She had gotten used to her pack being three and had even managed to convince herself that if anything happened, she could ensure that they all got out alive. With the new crew, though, she was no longer able to maintain the illusion for herself. 

Adding Jake frightened her, and getting closer to him frightened her more because she didn't know who she would choose if she was forced to. The choice between Jack and Kaidan would be an instinctive one. Jack was an omega. It was her job to protect him. She wouldn't be able to choose Kaidan over him even if she wanted to. In the choice between Jake or Kaidan, she would have to make a decision. Right now, it would be Kaidan without a doubt, but would that still hold in six months or a year? 

She liked their team as well. Though Jake was the one who typically did the rounds and spoke with them, she made sure to set aside time to get to know all of them. She couldn't very well become pack or be trusted to lead them if she didn't know them. But the more that she knew them, the more that she believed that this group had the potential to become closer to her than any that she had ever worked with. If another instance liked Torfan occurred, she thought that she would probably just go down with them.

The temperature in the facility had finally risen to an acceptable level, and the heaters in her armor were working too well. Jack had already removed his helmet, but she’d had had enough cold to last a lifetime while roaming the streets of Chicago as a child, so she had left hers on. Now she removed hers as well. She preferred to go without it anyway because it hobbled her too much. She couldn't smell through it, and that took away one of her primary senses. Humans, she had noticed, didn't use scent anywhere near as much as wolves did. Putting olfactory receptors into their helmets didn't seem to be a priority.

Jack leaned closer to her, letting his hip touch her elbow. She was small for a female Alpha and he towered over her, but most males did regardless of their status. She was used to it, and Jack had learned ways to be close without making her feel like he was looming over her. This close, the fragrant aroma of him was easy to sense. He smelled like warmth and home and family. She found herself leaning closer as well, and when his hand pressed against her armor at her lower back, she relaxed into it.

“Does it feel warm in here to you?” he asked. “We are far enough underground that the ambient temperature should be the average of the area’s, but considering that the planet is one giant glacier, seems like it should be colder than this.”

“The heat kicked on,” she said. “About damn time, too.” 

Dr. Chakwas turned her head to look at them with an eyebrow raised. “There is no heat in this part of the facility, Commander. These labs are located here because of the temperature, not in spite of it. If you're hot, perhaps you should check the heaters in your armor and make sure they aren't malfunctioning. Otherwise, you might want to check your heat schedule because I believe that it's getting close.”

“It isn't for another week,” she said. “And I don't know why Jack would be feeling it before I am. It must be the armor.”

Chakwas nodded and the other two women went back to what they were doing, completely absorbed in it. Jack winked at Kate. “So, you want to tell me what's going on with this new Alpha? Do you like him? Do you trust him? Is he going to be our new pack leader? And what does that mean for Kaidan and me if you decide to keep him around?”

“You two aren't going anywhere,” she said. “I don't know what I’d do without you. If he can't accept that, nothing is going anywhere with him. Besides, it's just sex anyway.”

The omega leaned down and trailed his nose behind her ear and said, “Someday, that lie isn't going to work for you anymore.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she said. “I'm happy with the pack that I have. I don't need anything to change. The only reason that I care at all is because I want to take on bigger missions and I want a ship of my own, and that means that we have to have a bigger pack. If the three of us could manage a ship and take on the galaxy by ourselves, I would be perfectly happy to do so.”

“Yes,” he said dryly. “Being the odd man out suits you so well. I think there's a reason why you keep coming back to us instead of going out and finding someone of your own.”

“Are you saying that I think that the two of you are safe?” she asked archly, tipping her head to give him better access to the scent gland behind her ear. 

“No, I'm saying I think you... smell way too good,” he groaned.

She turned her head, her brow furrowing. “What are you talking about?” 

Then it hit her. The delectable, warm, spicy aroma that filled the forest after a warm summer rain. Sweet and earthy, it was one of the best scents that one could find and one that had come to make her think of Jack. Or more specifically, Jack in heat.

“Oh, shit.” she groaned. “And Jake and Kaidan are on the ship alone. Suvi, Dr. Chakwas, need you to hurry it up, please. We need to get back to the _Normandy. _Now_. _”

“We are just finishing up now,” Suvi said.

“Ten minutes?” Chakwas asked.

“I'll try,” Kate said tightly, putting her helmet on. Not that it mattered. The scent was in her nostrils now.

By the time they got back to the ship, all she could think about was dragging Jack up to her cabin. Vaguely, she realized that she needed to send for Kaidan. Jake would just have to figure something out on his own because there was no way in hell that she wasn't stripping Jack down and having her way with him the minute her cabin door closed. 

She left instructions with Dr. Chakwas to find Kaidan and send him up as soon as possible, then she dragged the omega into the lift and hit the button for the top deck. No sooner had the doors closed than she had him pushed back against the wall, their mouths crashing together as their hands fumbled indiscriminately at their armor, neither of them caring whose they were removing as long as it came off.

The elevator stopped, the door opened, and the scent of Alpha in rut slammed into them both. Their grins were feral as they dragged each other towards the cabin door where Kaidan would be waiting. The door slid open and the scent of Kaidan and Jake wafted out. They shot each other a curious look but stumbled into the fish tank before they could investigate further, her hand down his pants and drawing him out of his under suit.

Their names echoed from the bed, called-out by two voices. A look down the stairs showed them that both Kaidan and Jake were, in fact, in the room. And were almost as wrapped up in each other as she and Jack. Kaidan held out of hand silently asking them to join. 

_Well_, Kate thought, _this is one way to handle all of us going into heat and rut at the same time_. 

It made a certain kind of sense for them to do it as a pack as long as the alphas didn't fight. She couldn't see any reason why they shouldn't invite Jake into the festivities. She and Kaidan had always shared Jack without issue. Jake should be able to manage as well. There was no need for possessiveness when they were all family anyway.

“Hi,” Jake said somewhat sheepishly. “You smell divine.” 

“Yes, well. You do, too,” she said. 

He buried his face in her neck with a soft sound of desire and said, “I don't know why we didn't think of this before.”

Kaidan wrapped his arms around them all, saying, “Probably because with so much else in our story, we’re trailblazing. That said, if anyone has any objection to this, say so now while we can all walk away and no one will get their feelings hurt or get angry. But I do believe that this is the best solution to our conundrum.”

~*~*~

It all sounded perfectly reasonable to Jack. He’d gone through heats with two Alphas; what was one more? He couldn’t deny that the idea of watching his Alphas together while Jake took him spurred him on as he stripped out of his underarmor and leapt playfully onto the bed.

Until Kaidan, he’d forgotten how much he _enjoyed _sex before Laramie. He’d been adventurous and open and believed sex should be fun. With her, it became routine. She’d wanted it constantly—whether from him or someone else—but there was no creativity or even enjoyment to it. It went according to the same basic format every time, like she was doing it by rote, using him like a living sex toy. He’d gotten bored.

That all changed when Kaidan got his hands on him. He’d been terrified right up to the moment when he realized that his new body was designed to make it pleasurable. It felt _good_, good in a way that rivaled even knotting as an Alpha. Laramie liked to call him a knot slut, among other things. She had no idea how true it was.

Kaidan grabbed and rolled him onto his back, kissing him deep and hard, their tongues dancing along each other’s. Vaguely, he registered Kate and Jake coming together with a familiarity that could only mean they’d already been together. Kaidan’s thigh tucked between his and his finger slid between his cheeks. Jack gasped, arching off the bed in a rush of slick, the other two momentarily forgotten as longing slammed into him like a hurricane. 

“Does my omega need me?” Kaidan murmured against his lips.

“Oh, fuck yes,” was too weak an answer to explain how much. 

Cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, red sand, _air_, nothing anyone had ever needed compared to the need which sank its teeth into him. It only sharpened at the scent of desire rolling off the Alpha pair playfully fighting for dominance next to them. Kate rolled Jake onto his back and sank down onto him with her head thrown back, and Jack whined with envy. _She _was getting what he needed; why was he still empty?

Kaidan groaned and slid two fingers into him, snapping his attention back to his Alpha. Jack’s hand groped for something, anything, to center him, and was met by Jake’s. The other male squeezed hard, his guttural moans a deep counterpoint to Kate’s higher ones and Jack’s own. He wrapped his other hand around Kaidan’s heavy length, his thumb stroking the swollen tip and spreading the moisture he found there.

“Fuck me, K,” he moaned, his hips rocking on Kaidan’s hand.

Kaidan bit his shoulder as he entered him, leaning over to kiss Kate when he began to move. Jake’s hand left his own and buried in his hair, tugging his head back. Their lips met, hesitant for only a moment before drawing back to look at each other and then coming back together again so desperately that their teeth clicked together. 

A small, calloused hand wrapped around his length and he rode Kaidan from below as he thrust into Kate’s hand, his own finding her soft breast. Trembling, she buried her other hand in Kaidan’s hair and circled her hips on Jake, drawing a groan from the two men that he could feel in his chest. 

Jack looked up at his beautiful Alphas, panting, “Next time, I’ll let you take me in wolf form. Curl my tail up out of the way for you, let you have your way with me. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Luna, Jack,” Kaidan groaned, his rhythm faltering. “That mouth of yours. I swear. Killing me, smalls...”

His legs tightened on Kaidan’s waist, encouraging him deeper. He reached down to cup the Alpha’s lush ass and found Jake’s hand already there. At least, he thought it was Jake’s. Lost to sensation, he could no longer tell whose hands were where or even who was touching him. 

He moved to thumb Kaidan and Kate’s nipples. His Alpha moaned, hips jerking, and thrust hard against Jack’s spot, sending stars bursting behind his eyelids. Kate’s hand stroked him roughly, and the wet heat of his own release splattered over his belly. His body bowed and his pocket spasmed around Kaidan’s thick length, searching for a knot to fill it.

He tweaked Kaidan’s nipple hard, shouting, “Oh, god, fuck me, Alpha, _knot me_!” 

Kaidan snarled, burying himself in Jack, his base swelling to tie them together. Tiny pinpricks of pain shot through his hips as Kaidan's claws extended and buried in his skin. As if responding to his plea, Kate and Jake moaned, their biotics flaring around them in a nebulous blue corona. She collapsed onto him, watching Kaidan gather Jack closer in his arms with a sated smile. They rolled onto their sides to cuddle up with them. 

“We should do _every _heat like this,” Jack muttered against Kaidan’s chest, burrowing into the tangle of limbs. 

“To think that you were scared of this,” Kaidan teased.

“Stupid,” he sighed contentedly, kissing the cherry blossoms tattooed on his chest. “This is where it’s at. And it’s just the beginning.”

“Yeah,” Kate agreed, kissing Jake with a tenderness he wouldn’t have expected. The other Alpha caressed her hair, his eyes locked on hers. “I think it is.”


	14. Higher Than High

_When I hear you say, “It’s hard to keep from looking back” sometimes I think that, too. Yeah, I know it's tough when every day is gray and black but I'll keep on lifting you. Let me show you how to be a dreamer. Let me show you how to soak up the sun. You gotta keep walking on when you're a dreamer and I know that we will soon overcome. Higher than high. Higher than we ever knew we cold go. Maybe we'll fly higher than the stars ever thought they could know. It’s all looking up now. We won’t stop._

_"Higher Than High" by Zayde Wolf_

* * *

“... And then maybe we can end this.” Kaidan stepped out the airlock with Ash and Vega behind him. “Get the data to the commanders. I'm sure they’re going to want to see this. Send jack up to the war room please, and let the rest of the marine detachment know that we are going to have a briefing first thing in the morning.”

When the four of them were gathered in the War Room, Kaidan looked at Kate and Jake and said, “We've got them.”

Either someone had gotten careless, their mole was embedded on Nepheron, or it was a trap. What ultimately mattered was that they knew the location of the Cerberus base. If it was a trap, they would spring it. Either way, by this time next week, they should be finished and able to move on to a new objective. The shakedown was over. They would either go their separate ways or move on together. 

He hoped that they would move on together as a unit and pack with all four of them. It was unorthodox, but then so was the rest of their situation. He’d always enjoyed Kate joining him and Jack before. He'd never imagined that bringing yet another Alpha in could make things even better, but it had. It wasn't just any Alpha, though. It was Jake.

They worked late into the night cycle, preparing their plan of attack, coordinating with Hackett, and dividing up their strike teams. They would take the base in groups of three with each Alpha leading a strike team approaching it from a different angle. They had all argued good-naturedly about which one would get to take Jack. If the four of them were going to be together, he was going to have to get used to sharing his bondmate with the other Alphas instead of just assuming that he would get to be the primary. Those were logistics to figure out when they weren't planning an assault, however. Whether they were going to be two couples who crossed over or a full quad was a question for later.

After Kate had dismissed them for the evening, Jake found him in the lounge. His scent was troubled, but his body language was relaxed when he took a seat on the floor in front of the window to the stars. He leaned back against the foot of the couch with his arms over an upraised knee. When Kaidan ran a hand through his hair, he leaned into it and looked up at him.

“How did the two of you get together in the first place?” he asked. “How did you know that you wanted to be together despite all the reasons why you shouldn't?”

“That was actually the easiest part of all,” Kaidan said. “Jack had been sure he couldn't handle the sexual aspects of being an omega, so it didn't occur to me that he might want me. Once we straightened that out, it was just a matter of figuring out the act itself. I had already been with an omega and he knew at least the basics of how it worked. From there, it was just a matter of gaining his trust, soothing the fear, and him figuring out that it felt really, really good.” Kaidan laughed. “It all started when Laramie pulled another of her tricks on Jack.”

* * *

_Arcturus Station, 2179_

Kaidan passed through the door of The Docking Bay, the Arcturus officer’s bar frequented by the weres, and discreetly scented for Jack while scanning the crowd. He’d put money on the vague sense of frustration and disappointment he’d been carrying around all day being from the omega, but Jack was surprisingly good at blocking the pack bond and Kaidan didn’t like to push him. 

With another were, it would be odd not to expect at least some clarity and openness, but Jack wasn’t born to this and still wasn’t accustomed to sharing his head. So Kaidan let the other man’s emotions and the rare flickers he got of more wash through his mind without examining them too closely and made a point of letting the omega talk about whatever was on his mind rather than trying to pick it out of his head. 

Still, vague senses slipped through sometimes and it was enough tonight that he wasn’t entirely surprised about the invitation even if he could only guess at why it had been issued. That rabid dog of an ex-mate was probably jerking him around again and using their pup as ammunition. That, or another of the humans on the station had said something to him. 

Humans, he’d learned, could be cruel. Their value systems were foreign enough to be more alien to him than most aliens he’d met. A wolf would never treat a packmate the way Laramie did Jack, even if they’d fallen out over something. The worst part was that she didn’t _seem _crazy. She acted perfectly reasonable in front of an audience. Only behind closed doors did her true colors show. 

He found the omega sitting at a hightop table near the stage with an empty shot glass and a Canadian lager beside him and slipped onto the stool, looking him up and down. Yeah. He’d definitely been the source. The scent of stress hovered around him like a dark cloud, though his face bore a smile and he was laughing at the truly awful comedian on the stage. Jack’s shoulders lost some of their tension when Kaidan got close enough for the omega to smell him, an automatic reaction to his presence. Kaidan felt some of his own drain away with his pack-member close again. 

“Hey,” he said as quietly as the bar would allow, leaning in to allow Jack to greet him. 

If he’d been just another packmate, Kaidan wouldn’t have hesitated to touch him first, but he’d learned it was better to let Jack come to him. Unconventional, but he didn’t mind bucking tradition if it meant helping the other man be more comfortable in his own skin.

“Hiya.” The word was taut, humor stretched thin over pain. 

The omega leaned in and bumped his nose under Kaidan’s jaw. He nudged Jack as he settled on the stool and the other man shifted in his seat, straightening again.

“Laramie or the humans?” he asked, resting a hand on the other man’s shoulder to bring his wrist closer. 

His scent would help center and settle the omega, but they weren’t yet at a point where he could just offer it to him or Jack would openly seek it out. Casual was better for now.

“What makes you think it’s either?” he quipped, his shoulder tensing under Kaidan’s arm. 

Humans didn’t touch as much as weres did. He knew that, but the reaction to it still made the corner of his eye twitch on occasion and he had to reason himself out of the automatic response. It wasn’t a rejection, just another sign of the omega’s struggle to adjust to his new life. It would get easier with time. He still had a long way to go, but Kaidan probably wouldn’t have adapted to human culture as well as Jack had done so far.

“Is there?” he asked, watching for a further response. 

If it didn’t help, he’d move. No sense pushing him, especially when he was already stressed. Jack poured directly from the bottle on the table and threw back a shot, but didn’t try to throw off his arm. 

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” he muttered and then sighed. “Laramie’s back to her old tricks. She’s accusing me of abusing her and the dogs and says she’s afraid I’ll hurt Lyanna, too.”

“That’s the furthest thing from the truth I’ve ever heard,” Kaidan said, shaking his head. “I’m sure the courts are used to dealing with manipulative parents. Humans, at least. I...don’t really know what else to say about that, unfortunately. It isn’t something that would happen with us, so it’s stunning to me that she even tries.” 

He took a sip of his beer and twirled the bottle on the bar. There wasn’t much he could do to help in this situation and that was maddening. There was one thing he could offer, though. Pack was always the answer when things went pear-shaped. 

“Why don’t you come stay at my place tonight?” he asked, lowering his arm to brace his elbow on the table.

“I dunno. Let me think about it,” he said flatly, their forearms bumping each other.

Kaidan glanced down at Jack’s elbow against his as they made banal small talk and wondered if he should move again or not. The omega was voluntarily touching him and there was something comforting about it, but he wasn’t sure Jack even realized he’d done it. He couldn’t bring himself to move just yet, though. 

The rejection of his offer had stung. Kaidan had spent the time since Torfan trying to hold back his own reactions to losing almost his entire pack. Having his fellow pack Alpha still locked away in the brig after Torfan, trying to help keep her sane, and being solely responsible for the single new member had taken all of his focus. He didn’t have the time or luxury to grieve yet, but he was reminded that he’d lost a family that had been together for years. It was lonelier than he liked to admit. 

He needed Jack just as much as Jack needed him. Unfortunately, the omega was still fighting the changes that had taken place. Even if he wasn’t, they still came from two different cultural backgrounds. He could teach Jack every day, but it would take years for him to begin to assimilate to their way of thinking. Which meant that Kaidan was having to try to figure out how to think like a human in order to attempt to understand him. 

The problem with that was that Jack was the only human he’d ever wanted to spend time with. They were speaking different languages with no translator. The differences might be relatively small, but they completely changed the meaning of certain interactions. So as much as he might want to touch, and as much as it might have been natural to seek comfort from any other pack member, he kept his hands to himself. 

Maybe he needed to go home to see his blood pack. He could use the comfort of physical affection and the chance to relax and let go without feeling the need to analyze his every movement before he made it. A vacation, that was what he needed. Once Jack was a bit more stabilized, at least. He couldn’t go now, no matter how much he might want to. 

“You gonna do karaoke with me?” Jack asked lightly.

“Me?” Kaidan asked. 

“Yeah,” the omega said. “It’ll be fun. I’ve heard you sing. You’ve got a good voice.”

“When have you ever heard me sing?” Kaidan asked with a startled laugh.

Jack turned his head and raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t even realize you’re doing it, do you? You sing or hum under your breath whenever you clean your gear or work on your computer or omnitool. Basically anything you get absorbed in.”

“Huh.” He hadn’t realized he did that, but Jack was right. He glanced sideways at him. Karaoke wasn’t really his thing, but far be it from him to deny a packmate, especially over such a simple request. “Okay.”

“You’re so good to me,” the other man chuckled, leaning closer as he tapped into his omnitool, signing Kaidan up. 

The move could have just been the unconscious result of him turning naturally toward a packmate but might also be progress. Either way, he wasn’t jerking away, so Kaidan allowed himself to relax somewhat.

_I could be_.

_Shut up, Kaidan._

This crush he had on the man was stupid. It wasn’t reciprocated and probably never would be. Once Jack got more comfortable with his status, he’d go find another omega or a female Alpha and eventually he’d find the _right _omega or Alpha and none of it would matter. Regardless of what happened, there was no way in hell that the former Alpha male would be willing to take a knot up his ass no matter how often he slicked up at inopportune times and drove Kaidan to distraction. The guy had a kid with a female omega. The slick had nothing to do with him and he was an idiot for hoping that it happened because he was around.

“Just hope I don’t make a fool of myself,” he quipped. “If I look stupid up there, I’m blaming you.”

“I highly doubt you could do anything that wouldn’t look good,” Jack snorted, turning towards him and behind to grab another shot. “I’m kinda shocked you’re single. You’ve got it all. Officer, smart, nice, loyal, great hair, _nice _ass. I’d have thought you and Shepard would’ve bonded by now, honestly.”

Kaidan raised a brow at him. “Huh. You don’t know. One of the guys that was down there with us was her mate. Alex. He was a good guy. As for anyone else, well...guess I’m just choosy or patient or...I don’t know.” _Or what I want is sitting right in front of me and I’m never going to get it. My _type_, apparently, is hot male omega. _

He’d enjoyed his forays with Kate and Alex, but they’d been a mated pair through and through. It was just sex. He’d never been on his own with Alex and he’d never been interested in any other female Alphas.

Jack nodded. “I think I vaguely remember that. I never really spent time with you guys on the ship, though, so I can’t place him.” 

The deejay called Kaidan’s name, so he shook his head at Jack and chugged the last of his beer before slamming back the shot the omega had just poured for himself. Jack made a sound of objection and laughed as Kaidan spread his hands and sauntered backwards with a grin on his face. Even if he made a fool of himself, it was good to see Sheppard laugh.

He went up and made his selection, bobbing his head a little and tapping his foot with the beat. He kept his eyes on Jack, who’d leaned back against the table and was beaming at him. “I can feel the weight, I can feel the weight of the world. I can feel the pressure, yeah, I know the pain and the hurt. I’ve been climbing up all these mountains for so long. I’ve been building up all these kingdoms for so long.” 

Jack clapped along and threw his head back with an “Awroo!”

Kaidan rolled his eyes, biting back a laugh and starting to dance a little. “I will not run when destiny comes. I’m dipping my hand in gold. It’s good to be king.”* 

That made Jack grin even wider, so he let himself really get into it, strutting across the stage and shaking his hips a little. By the time he got down, Jack’s stress had melted away and he smelled almost happy. When Kaidan threw an arm around his shoulders, the omega leaned into it, poking him in the ribs.

“Told you. You didn’t look even a little bit stupid.”

The next person climbed the stage and the jangle of something Kaidan had never heard before and never wanted to again filled the bar. Jack cringed and curled his nose, clapping his hands over his ears. Kaidan’s rang and he fought the urge to do the same. 

“Let’s go!” he shouted over the music.

Jack nodded and followed him out, laughing breathlessly as the door closed behind them, cutting off the horrible music. Kaidan shook his head, looking incredulously at it. “What in the world?”

“I think that was turian bluegrass,” Jack said, his eyes still sparkling and his cheeks flushed.

“That was...awful!” Kaidan laughed, unconsciously rubbing a hand over the scars on his lips.

Jack’s eyes followed the motion, locking on his mouth. He got no further warning before the omega rose on tiptoe, cupped his jaw, and pressed forward, full lips meeting his.

_Holy shit._

He groaned as Jack tried to push him back against the wall. Kaidan stumbled back half a step, shock throwing his balance off before he caught himself, his hand sliding up over the omega’s cheek. Warmth rushed through him, an ecstatic disbelief lighting his nerves. Jack was _kissing _him. And not just a friendly peck, either. 

Kaidan tamped down the urge to reverse their positions, some semblance of awareness in the back of his mind telling him to leave the omega with an escape route, and traced the other man’s lower lip with his tongue. This was the last thing he’d expected, but damned if he was going to turn him away.

~*~*~*~

Electricity raced through Jack as their lips met. His heart pounded in his chest. His boldness surprised even himself. The Alpha hesitated a moment before kissing him back, asking for entrance and cupping his cheek. Jack shivered, complying and sliding his arm around Kaidan’s back. He wasn’t entirely surprised he wasn’t able to press him against the wall, but it was probably for the best that way. Alphas didn’t like being manhandled or controlled, and it was an old instinct that had led him to try.

Kaidan’s tongue slid along his, fingers brushing along the shell of his ear. The Alpha made no attempt to move or control him, seemingly content to allow the kiss to happen. He could smell Kaidan’s rising desire, though, and the hand that came to rest on his hip trembled slightly.

He shifted his weight and leaned against him, the newly-familiar rush of wet heat that answered the Alpha’s desire slicking his ass cheeks. He was almost certain Kaidan could smell it when it happened, even if he was too polite to acknowledge it. Kaidan’s thumb ran over his ear again, making him shiver at the soft touch before gentle fingers ran up the back of his neck and through his short hair.

The hand on his hip slid back to rest on his lower back, the Alpha’s nostrils flaring against his. Kaidan shifted slightly, moving so their fronts weren’t pressed together. A brief flicker of lust and protection flashed over him from Kaidan and he couldn’t help his amusement; he was well aware of what happened when an Alpha got aroused. He felt more than heard Kaidan’s soft groan.

Jack could hardly believe Kaidan hadn’t pushed him away from him with a growl, but now that he thought about it, he supposed it wasn’t as surprising as it initially had been to him. Kaidan didn’t talk about women, not really. He thought he’d caught him looking him over with more than just a curious intent a few times, but convinced himself it was just wishful thinking on his end. He moaned quietly, tipping his head to the side and opened further for the kiss.

Kaidan deepened it, pressing closer, his hand sliding down to tuck the tips of his fingers into Jack’s back pants pocket. A muscular thigh slipped between his legs as the Alpha rumbled in his chest. 

“We should stop,” Kaidan murmured against his lips.

“I don’t think I want to,” Jack admitted, pressing closer to him.

“Then we should get home,” the Alpha said, a bass rumble underlying his words. 

Jack pulled back with a sigh and started walking again, cautiously slipping his hand into the older man’s. Kaidan’s fingers linked with his without hesitation. “Let’s go, then.”

Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, becoming very interested in the apartment numbers on the walls as they made their way toward the werewolf bloc. “Are you sure about this? You were mated to a female. You’re uncomfortable with even the most basic parts of _being _an omega. You still tense up if I move too quickly around you. It never occurred to me that making a move was an option. Now we’re talking about going home together. You’ve been drinking and...I worry about taking advantage of you when you’re vulnerable.”

Jack sensed a small wash of embarrassment from the Alpha as he accompanied him to the elevator. “Did I ever tell you how I found out about Lyanna?”

Kaidan braced a shoulder against the wall beside him, cocking his head. Jack had seen him wear the same quizzical expression in his wolf form. The tips of the Alpha’s ears had a tendency to touch in the middle of his head when he did it. It was adorable. 

“No. I don’t think you have.”

He exhaled noisily, eyeing the Alpha next to him. “I was a virgin, heading into my first rut. I’d seen her around, had a crush on her for as long as I could remember. I didn’t think she’d look twice at me, though. She was older than me, always had a different Alpha on her arm, and none of them stuck around more than a couple years. But when I offered to mate with her for her heat, she agreed. By the end of it, I was crazy about her. I thought we’d bond and be together forever. But then she came back, said she was pregnant, and said she was going to get an abortion.” He glanced at Kaidan again. “She didn’t want kids, you see. Especially not when we weren’t even bonded in the first place. I begged her to keep it, told him I’d raise it. She was scared, though, and she went ahead with the abortion.” 

“Oh, Jack,” Kaidan sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Next heat, she came back, asked to try again. I insisted on birth control after that, so she took it. A couple heats later, it failed and she got pregnant again. This time, though, I told her that if she aborted it, I wouldn’t sleep with her again. So she agreed to have it, and Lyanna was born. We lived together and raised the baby together, but she and I still weren’t bonded. I was head over heels for her, but she just never could give me that last bit. I wasn’t really surprised when she found another Alpha. Lyanna, though, she was my life.”

“She still is,” the Alpha said. “That hasn’t changed. As to the rest, well. I’m sorry.”

“You’re right,” Jack nodded. “The point, though, is that I wasn’t with her because she was a female omega. I like men and women. It was circumstance. If she’d been male, I’d have gone for her, too. You being an Alpha...I mean, yeah. I’m nervous. But...I like you and you make me slick up often enough that there’s no denying I’m interested. So. I’ve got just enough liquid courage going to say ‘why not give it a shot,’ but I’m still in control. You, ah. You know what you’re doing, right?”

“Have I ever told you about the omega I spent a weekend with?”

Jack lifted an eyebrow at him as the elevator drew to a stop and the doors opened to their floor. “I don’t think so, no. I thought Alpha weres didn’t generally go for omegas. Part of why I haven’t made a move before.”

“I don’t usually kiss and tell, but it seems relevant at the moment,” Kaidan said with a shrug. “We don’t normally go for omegas. There are...issues with the pairing. I was raised to expect I’d find a female Alpha I could breed with and we’d lead a pack together, but none of them ever really caught my eye. I had an omega friend who was going into heat and wanted to experience what it was like with an Alpha. He asked me. I was curious, so I agreed. And it went...well. Really well. I stopped letting other people dictate my expectations after that and decided to look for someone who made me happy, not a partner based on nothing more than our reproductive potential.” 

Jack’s eyebrow lifted at the admission. “What happened to him? Was he not interested in bonding with you, either?” They reached Alenko’s door and stopped walking.

Kaidan’s face fell. “He, ah. He died. Messed me up pretty good for awhile. I don’t really want to talk about that part right now. Long story and all.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. That’s...that sucks.”

“Yeah, it...I’ll tell you about it some other time. Over drinks. Look. The point is, if you’re actually interested and weren’t just acting on an impulse you came to regret, I am more than receptive to the idea. If you aren’t, then no harm, no foul. Alright?”

Jack nodded, dragging his lower lip between his teeth. Why the hell not? It was crazy, but so was everything else in his life since Torfan. “I’m interested. More than a little. I want to try.”

“Okay.” Kaidan smiled, his eyes sparkling. He appeared to debate for a moment and then leaned in, pressing his lips softly to Jack’s. 

Jumbled thoughts and emotions crashed over him and mixed with his own, blending together in a whirlwind of excitement, happiness, luck, and disbelief as he opened for the kiss. He slid his hands to cup Kaidan’s hips, wondering if he should try to pull him closer or if it would be taken as a dominance challenge.

The Alpha groaned softly, deepening the kiss, but kept his thighs to himself. His arms slid around Jack’s waist, holding loosely. Their tongues danced against each other, and Jack shivered at the sensation, pressing himself against the other man in an almost frantic attempt to get closer. His body was alight, nerves rubbed almost raw in the crushing urge to touch and be touched; two years of limited affection and enforced abstinence hadn’t seemed like a huge deal at the time, but now that he had experienced it again, he wanted more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Lyrics from "King" by Zayde Wolf


	15. Live Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

_ Some nights I stay up staring at the stars wondering how far it goes. I know this life is all I have. That's what I’ve always been told. _

_ What am I gonna do? Will you go where I go? The time is now not when I’m reaching for you hand. Will you go where I go? _

_ Live life like I never have. Live life though the good and bad. _

_ "Live Life" by Zayde Wolf _

* * *

_ Arcturus Station, 2179 _

Kaidan waved his omni-tool over the door lock without breaking the kiss and the door slid open. The Alpha guided him through it, his fingers sliding over Jack’s hair and splaying between his shoulderblades.

“_Mmmph_…” he moaned, moving with the Alpha. A rush of slick made him squirm against him. “Sofa? Or bedroom?”

Kaidan groaned, tugging them flush to each other, and rolled his hips into Jack’s for a heartbeat before drawing back and pressing their foreheads together. His breath came in quick pants. “Are you _ absolutely _ sure you’re okay with this?”

Concern mixed with disbelief and shot through with desire washed over him, compounding his own and he squeezed his eyes shut, leaning into him with a small tremble. “_Yes_.”

The Alpha’s hands slid along his jaw, his thumbs tracing Jack’s cheekbones. “If you get nervous or you want to stop, say so and we stop. No expectations. No need to worry. Okay?”

Jack nodded quickly, keeping himself pressed as tight as he could to the other man. Everything that had happened was overtaken by the need to be touched, sweeping over him in a tidal wave and crashing into him, stealing his breath. Kaidan’s nose tucked behind his ear, his lips grazing over Jack’s skin. A hand returned to the back of his head, tracing his hairline, while the other slid down to rest at the small of his back. 

“Good. That’s good. Then...bedroom. You’ll be more comfortable.”

He nodded again, not trusting himself to speak. This was surreal. He almost expected to wake up in his own apartment on his couch with an empty bottle of whiskey nearby. Heat from the Alpha’s hand on the small of his back spread along him and made him feverish with need. He hooked his fingers in Kaidan’s belt loops, resting his forehead on the other man’s shoulder.

Kaidan walked backwards, keeping his hands in place, and led him into a tidy bedroom. The Alpha inhaled deeply, trailing his nose along the shell of Jack’s ear before kissing his way down the side of his neck. His fingers slipped beneath Jack’s shirt, brushing over his skin. Jack shivered, abs tightening at the skin on skin contact. 

_ So long...it’s been so damn long… _

The last time he’d been in the Alpha’s bedroom had been a much lonelier experience. The scent of apple pie and campfire hung lightly in the air, permeating the whole of the apartment and telling everyone exactly whose space it belonged to. It had simultaneously eased his heat and set it further alight as he rode out the duration in Kaidan’s bed. Only that time, he thought ruefully, he could only wish for the Alpha to be there.. 

He tipped his head to the side to give Kaidan access, sneaking a hand behind himself to pluck at the seat of his pants. His underwear was clinging to him like a damp second skin and he wanted nothing more than to be rid of it. He tentatively tucked his nose behind Kaidan’s ear and inhaled deeply, shuddering. The Alpha smelled absolutely intoxicating to him, blanching his mind of any semblance of cohesive thought.

Kaidan groaned, the rumble vibrating his chest, and slid his hand fully beneath Jack’s shirt. His lips trailed over the hollow of his throat, warm tongue flicking out to taste his skin. The older man’s hips pressed against his, there but not demanding, and the hand in his hair continued its smooth circles. 

He flicked his tongue against Kaidan’s pulse, still cautious of anything that could be taken as a challenge. It was a chance he’d already taken with his nose behind Kaidan’s ear; subordinate pack members and human omegas typically placed theirs under the Alpha’s jaw to show the acknowledged roles. That was something that carried over for both races. 

Clumsy, trembling fingers played with the hem of Kaidan’s shirt, tracing his skin along his waistband. Kaidan sucked in a breath, nipping gently at the base of his throat. 

“Go ahead,” he murmured against Jack’s skin.

Jack pulled Kaidan’s shirt slowly up his chest and over the other man’s head, tossing it to the ground and sliding his hands over hard planes and ridges of the Alpha’s stomach that he’d seen countless times before and wished to explore. A cherry tree with a heart nestled in its roots grew up his left side. A thin, silvered slash of a scar interrupted the smooth skin over the right side of his ribs, a jagged line at odds with the rest of him. He bent slowly, keeping his eyes on Kaidan’s as he kissed it, his tongue gently tracing the edges.

Kaidan dragged his lower lip between his teeth, sucking in a breath as a shaky hand stroked over Jack’s short hair. He kissed his way back up his chest, flicking his tongue over the Alpha’s nipple. Kaidan moaned, the sound deep and vibrating in his chest with an edge of a growl as his hand clenched against Jack’s shoulder. The sound ignited something inside him, going through his very core and made his breath catch in his chest as there was an answering rush of dampness in his passage.

“_Luna_, Jack,” Kaidan groaned, his nostrils flaring wide to catch the scent. “That...I don’t think I’ve ever felt that before.”

He hooked his fingers in Kaidan’s belt loops again, lower lip between his teeth as he straightened up. “No? I guess that means you didn’t mind...”

Kaidan’s hands slid over his hips, his thumbs tracing the lines of bone, and he leaned in to brush his lips over Jack’s. “It felt amazing,” he murmured. 

Jack closed his eyes and captured the Alpha’s lower lip between his own, sucking gently on it. He traced his thumbs on the skin above Kaidan’s waistband, marvelling at how soft it was. The other man’s thumbs dipped below the waistband of Jack’s jeans, still following the line of his hips, and the Alpha melted into the kiss, seeking more.

Electric zings flashed over Jack’s skin at that as he pressed himself against Kaidan, tugging at the button of the other man’s pants in a feverish haze; he needed to touch as much skin as possible _ now_. Kaidan groaned, sliding his hands beneath Jack’s shirt and pulling it off over his head. It landed on the floor in a heap and then the Alpha’s calloused fingers were roaming over his back and chest, seemingly trying to touch him everywhere at once.

He groaned softly as goosebumps trailed after Kaidan’s hands and he shivered, stepping into the other’s man’s space as much as he could. Those soft, full lips were on his again, gentle but firm in demanding his full attention again. He slid a hand over the taut front of Kaidan’s jeans, cupping his fingers around it. Kaidan’s hips jerked, pressing himself into Jack’s hand, his fingers sliding down to smooth over Jack's ass and pull him closer. Kaidan’s thigh tentatively nudged between Jack’s again.

Desire roared through him and he rolled himself against the Alpha, trembling briefly. This was better than anything he’d imagined during his heat; the reality of Kaidan’s mouth and hands on him far surpassed whatever flimsy imitation his mind had created. His heart jumped in his chest as he realized they were next to the bed. The older man ignored it—for now, at least—his mouth creating a trail of hot kisses down the side of his neck and over his shoulder. His hands fully cupped Jack’s ass through his pants, gently rocking Jack against his thigh in time with the motion of Kaidan against his hand.

He inhaled sharply, tipping his head to the side. His mind raced, trying to process everything. The urge to shove the other man back on the bed was growing stronger the more physical they got, but he was acutely aware that it could easily be taken as a dominance display and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Getting scruffed and forced to submit didn’t sound like a good time. At the same time, he was trying to think of how they were going to actually work it out. He’d never dreamed he’d be penetrated in a million years and the idea had him more than a little nervous.

Kaidan paused, drawing back just enough to murmur, “I can feel your jitters even in this form, babe. We can still stop if you’re uncomfortable. No expectations, remember?” 

The endearment snapped his attention completely back to Kaidan. “I remember. It’s...first time nerves again, really. It’s going to happen sooner or later, and I’d rather it be with you than anybody else.”

“I’m...honored that you trust me,” Kaidan said, an answering rush of nerves echoing back. “Just for my own clarity, does that make this just an...experiment? Or is it something more? I’m not asking for a declaration or anything; I just want to know how you’ll want me to act in the morning. I don’t take that kind of thing lightly.” 

“I don’t intend to be an experiment. I’m...I don’t want to say _ afraid _ of a relationship per se, but I don’t want to just cut and run, either. I want to see where this goes.”

A slow smile spread over Kaidan’s face. “I’d like that.”

Jack rolled his lips inward a moment, cocking his head to the side and brushing his thumb over the other man’s nipple again. Kaidan shivered and moaned softly in response. 

“So would I.”

~*~*~

Kaidan cocked his head and looked at Jack, considering the other man. He’d picked up on the little ways in which Jack would start to take control and catch himself, the simultaneous submissions and rebellions buried in stereotypically Alpha actions, and the sharp scent underlying the warm cloud of his desire. Jack was scared, not quite as much as when he’d first been changed but close to it. 

“Why don’t we shower together and just...touch,” he suggested. “You touch me. I touch you. No pressure. Just get to know each other’s bodies and let whatever happens happen.”

Jack chewed his lip, his face brightening momentarily as if about to crack a joke, but he surprised Kaidan by sobering and saying, “I’m not sure that would be the best idea. If I’m not careful, I’ll probably end up touching you in ways you aren’t okay with.”

“Free rein,” Kaidan said. “I mean it. I’ve even got some lube around here if it makes you more comfortable to do it to me first.”

Jack gaped at him. “You’d do that?”

Kaidan shrugged, sliding his hands around to Jack’s front and toying with the button. “Why not?”

“You’re an _ Alpha_.”

“And?” Kaidan asked, resisting the urge to nibble up his neck and strip his pants. He owed it to Jack not to muddle his head at the moment. 

“You don’t slick up,” Jack said. 

“Neither do betas,” Kaidan pointed out. “They still have sex, even if they don’t usually procreate.”

“You don’t have a pocket,” he said.

“Neither do betas,” Kaidan repeated. “And you don’t have a knot.”

“But you do,” Jack said.

“So I use a toy if I need to,” Kaidan said. 

Jack shivered and leaned into him, stroking a hand over him again and bending his head to take Kaidan’s nipple into his mouth. Kaidan groaned deep in his chest, popping the button and forcing his movements to slow as he unfastened Jack’s pants and drew the damp fabric down. The heady scent of slick filled the room, making his head spin and his heart pound. Jack’s mind might be hesitant, but his body knew exactly what it was doing. 

The omega’s hands trembled as he scrambled at Kaidan’s pants, dragging them down with frantic, impatient motions. He froze when he saw Kaidan’s length, though. The color drained from his face and the sharp scent of fear spiked.

“Relax, sweetheart,” Kaidan said gently. “I promise it will fit and it won’t hurt. And like I said, it doesn’t have to go in you tonight.”

“Can I touch it?” Jack asked hesitantly.

“Of course,” Kaidan said. 

His hand traced Jack’s spine, testing the muscles alongside it, and followed them down the curve of his ass. Jack’s fingers trembled as they reached out and gently trailed down his heavy length, thumbing the head and wrapping around the shaft. His fingers sought and found the soft, slightly loose skin at the base where his knot would form and drew circles over it, either accidentally or on purpose hitting the bundle of nerves buried there and making Kaidan’s hips jump.

“Oh, Luna, Jack,” he groaned when the omega did it again. 

His fingers traced the slippery curve of the other man’s ass, savoring the tremor and fresh rush of slick. Jack continued massaging his base, leaning in to kiss him hesitantly, almost sweetly. Kaidan opened for him, letting him set the pace, and didn’t object when Jack’s thigh slipped between his. With anyone else, he’d fight it, but it was different with Jack. 

He had infinite patience for the new omega trying to figure himself out, which he was sure Jack would eventually come to trust. That was what pack was for. Alphas had the ultimate responsibility for teaching, and teaching youngsters generally happened through fun, not discipline. Jack might be an adult, but he was still young as a wolf and he also responded better to play than chastisement. 

Kaidan drew in a sharp, audible breath when Jack’s hand circled him fully and began to stroke him from tip to base with slow, deliberate motions. Jack had found the lube and his other hand stroked wet fingers down his cleft. Kaidan shifted and echoed the motion on Jack. Everything the omega did to him, he’d copy, thus giving the ultimate control over to him.

Jack shivered, pressing closer to him, and slid his tongue along Kaidan’s. Slick coated the Alpha’s fingers as they stroked each other, learning the other’s body and noting each reaction. When Kaidan’s fingers drew over his entrance, testing the wet heat, Jack moaned deep in his chest and pressed a fingertip into him. Kaidan gasped at the unfamiliar sensation, his back arching slightly and eyes fluttering. Carefully, Jack pushed deeper, and Kaidan found that his own finger slipped easily into the omega. 

“Oh, fuck _ me _ running,” Jack groaned, rocking back onto his finger. “More.” 

Kaidan slid his finger out and kissed the omega. “Shower, baby.”

“Mmph. Yes, sir…” 

Far less hesitant now, Jack led them into the bathroom. Kaidan followed, grabbing his hand and gently nudging him to the shower and up against the wall, tucking his nose behind Jack's ear and slapping at the shower controls. Jack shivered, running his hands up Kaidan’s arms with his head back. The omega’s desire combined with the steam forming in the room. Kaidan followed the path of a water droplet up his neck to his ear, nipping it and slipping his thigh between Jack's legs.

Jack exhaled shakily and rocked against his thigh, his arms lifting to wrap around Kaidan’s neck. Kaidan reached around him to get the soap and lathered Jack's chest, keeping his own to his back and rubbing his shoulders to help him relax. He wanted to bury himself in the omega as he’d fantasized about so many times before, but he refused to rush or push him faster than he was ready for. He’d promised him touching. He would give him touching. Jack groaned, his muscles beginning to relax under his hands. Kaidan slid his thumbs along his shoulderblades, working the knots out as he worked his way down.

Nuzzling behind his ear again, he slid soapy hands around Jack’s front and stroked him. “I like seeing you relax, sweetheart. Do you want to turn around so that you can touch me easier?” He cupped his heavy balls, massaging them. He was used to omegas with their much smaller ones but discovered he liked that Jack’s had retained their Alpha size. He wrapped an arm around his chest in a hug and grazed his teeth over the omega’s shoulder. “Is there anywhere you want me to touch?”

“Kinda hard to...think...with your teeth there…” Jack groaned, rocking his hips back against Kaidan’s groin. 

“Should I stop?” he asked.

“No, Alpha,” Jack said emphatically. 

The answer had his voice husky when he said, “Good.” That was progress. They were making a great deal of it.

Jack shivered again, grinding back against him. Kaidan nudged his feet a little further apart, rolling his hips into him, moaning softly at the slick that coated his groin from the motion. He licked a path down to his shoulder and brushed his chin over it. 

“You suddenly seem...eager, sweetheart,” he said, hoping it was true.

Jack bit his lip, rocking back into him, and tilted his head to rest against Kaidan's. “Just...like feeling your skin on mine.”

Kaidan tugged gently on his hip, sliding his hardened length between his cheeks. “Is this alright?” he asked. 

Jack rocked against him, his voice strained but there was no fear in it or his scent. “Yes, Alpha.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to do it to me?” he asked in a strained voice. 

“I think so,” Jack panted. “I don’t want to move.”

Kaidan groaned deep in chest, his hips rocking again, and rested his forehead against the omega’s shoulder to center himself. Jack kept his head back against Kaidan’s shoulder, his hips moving shallowly to thrust into Kaidan’s hand and rock his ass against his length.

“I want to be in you,” Kaidan admitted, tipping Jack’s head to kiss him softly. “But I don't think you're ready yet.”

“Touch me again?” Jack almost whined. “Please, Alpha, it felt so fucking good…”

His fingers caressed down Jack’s throat as the omega kissed him back, stroking his collarbone and down his chest, around to his ass. He slipped a finger between his slick cheeks and stroked his entrance. 

“I want to feel you around me again, baby. You’re so slick for me,” he breathed, easing his finger in, letting Jack control the depth. 

Jack groaned, pushing all the way onto his finger. “Please, Alpha…”

Kaidan added another finger, desire clouding his mind. “Such an eager omega, sweetheart. You’re so _ good_.”

Jack shuddered hard, his head dropping forward and his body rolling against Kaidan’s hand. Desperation began to bleed onto desire and his slick, silken heat flexed around his fingers, trying to draw him deeper. 

“Oh, god... Please, Alpha…” Jack moaned. 

“Do you need me?” Kaidan asked soflty, nipping the top of his shoulder and reminding himself he had no right to bite him.

“Oh, god...yes, Alpha…” Jack groaned, turning his head to nip at his jaw. 

Kaidan withdrew his fingers, positioning himself at his entrance, and groaned against his skin at the effort it took not to just sink into him. But Jack had been afraid only a little while before. Kaidan needed to ensure that he wasn’t going to regret this or panic the moment that he penetrated him. He’d meant it when he said that he would let Jack do it to him first if he wanted, but the omega just clung to him, the idea of topping Kaidan seemingly forgotten.

“Oh, my sweet omega… Are you certain, sweetheart?” he asked against his ear.

Jack shuddered and pressed back against him, his hips rocking rhythmically. “Fuck me, Alpha, please.”

It was what he needed to hear. Kaidan thrust forward with shallow strokes, pausing to let Jack adjust as he went and moaning against his shoulder at the tight, wet heat surrounding him. Jack braced a hand against the wall, his answering moan echoing off the tile with each stroke, and reached back to grip Kaidan’s hip. 

Kaidan slipped an arm around his chest again, giving in and sinking his teeth into the muscle at the crook of his neck as he fully sheathed himself in Jack. The omega’s knees almost buckled, but the arm around his chest held him and Jack rocked hard against him. 

“Ohh, fuck, Alpha, feels so good. Never imagined it could feel so good…” Jack panted, flexing his shoulder under Kaidan’s teeth, his hips moving helplessly. His knees trembled again, biotics flickering around them, and his hand tightened on Kaidan’s hip. “Oh, fuck...Alpha, please…”

Kaidan rumbled deep in his chest. “What do you need, omega?”

“More. More, please. Oh, god, baby. I'm so close…” Jack whined. “_Please_, Kaidan!”

Kaidan rolled his body fully against his, his hips losing their rhythm at the omega’s pleas. “Mine...my omega…” He bit hard, tightening his jaw in rhythm with his hand around his shaft. 

Jack’s hips bucked, his body bowing and biotics flashing as he spilled over Kaidan’s hand. “Ohh, fuck, Alpha! Knot me! Knot me, please, it hurts, I need it, knot me, knot me!”

Kaidan arched hard into him, his own biotics flaring with Jack’s and enveloping them both. With a shudder, he buried himself, his knot swelling and tying him in with the omega, pleasure washing over him in heavy waves. Jack pressed back against him, shaking, his hand sliding against the wall.

Kaidan fought to bring himself back under control. “Baby…” He rubbed his chin over the bite, pressing his knot deeper into him. “Baby, you were fantastic. That was perfect.”

Jack shivered, leaning hard against him. “That was...can't fucking _ think_.”

“My omega,” Kaidan murmured, rubbing his cheek against him. 

~*~*~

“Wow,” Jake said. “That’s...hot.” 

Kaidan hadn’t planned to describe the whole thing, but it was as likely as not to show up in one of their memories at some point when they were all shifted anyway. Privacy was a bizarre concept within a pack. He smiled down at the other Alpha, who was practically rubbing himself against Kaidan’s hand, and wrapped an arm around Jack, who’d come in during the telling and sat down beside him with his legs on either side of Jake. The omega absently massaged Jake’s shoulders, completely at ease with him.

“And it just...worked when you added Kate?” Jake asked. “Like during the rut? No jealousy, no territoriality, just...pack.”

“Mmhm,” Jack said. “I mean, it helped that I lo—” He bit off his words, darting a look at Kaidan, guilt coloring his scent.

Concern shot through Kaidan and he leaned in to nuzzle behind the omega’s ear. “It’s alright, sweetheart. Don’t be afraid. You should know by now you can tell me anything.”

“It wasn’t part of the agreement,” Jack whispered. “I didn’t plan to, I just…”

“You love her, too,” Jake said. 

Jack nodded, biting his lip and ducking his head. “I...like it being all of us. Like a family. I don’t want Kate to leave. She’s my Alpha, too,” he said in a small voice Kaidan hadn’t heard in years.

Jake looked between them. “I’m going to leave the two of you to talk.” 

When he was gone, Kaidan pulled Jack into his arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I love her, too,” he admitted. “I suppose we just need to figure out what happens now. I really don’t think that much is going to change.”


	16. Heroes

_ It's feeling like the suns hiding, but we're gonna keep moving, surviving. No we won't go quiet tonight. Stand up and shout louder. Oh no, no we won't be silent. _

_ Shadows are calling us out. We are heroes, heroes in the darkest times when there is no light. We are heroes, heroes in the darkest times who will rise above. _

_ “Heroes” by Zayde Wolf _

* * *

Jack bit back a wave of nausea as the shuttle jolted, swallowing it down and setting his shoulders. Kaidan shot him a look, his brows furrowing, and cocked his head in the way that would have had his ear tips together if he wasn’t in human form. Jack gave him a little shake of his head to tell him he was fine and it was nothing. Fortunately, Vega, Ash, and Kane seemed oblivious to the silent communication. 

They’d split into three teams and had to take two shuttles to carry everyone. Kate, Jake, Cora, Kane, and Liam were in Cortez’ shuttle while the rest of them were in Vidal’s. Jack checked his rifle again and ensured that his omnitool was calibrated properly for his drones. Beside him, Kaidan looked over his pistol and Vega counted his grenades for the third time. 

“ETA: three minutes,” Reyes called back. 

Kaidan nodded and rose, patting Jack’s leg before going to the center of the shuttle and hooking a hand over his head to balance himself. The betas all looked up, their eyes fixed on him. He looked good as a leader, always had. He was born to this. _ Good to be king,_ indeed. And if things went the way Jack thought they might, he could be. Or, at least, one of them. 

Kaidan looked at them. “You’ve all seen what Cerberus is doing. You know the stakes. It’s not just our honor on the line here. It’s our very way of life. The future of our people rests on the choices we make today. So do everything you can to come back alive, but we must all be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to stop this.” His eyes rested on each of them in turn. “I’m proud to call you Pack.”

With that, he shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head on them as the air shimmered around him from the heat pouring off his body. His bones shifted, the skin stretching with them, sable fur rupturing from it and flowing over him. Jack winced as Kaidan’s change called theirs and he rode the precarious line between not-enough and too-much shift to slide painfully into his bipedal form. Kaidan said he was lucky he could do it at all, as most made wolves never mastered it, but in the first moments after the shift, he didn’t feel lucky. K also said it should stop hurting eventually, but he hadn’t reached that point yet. 

He blinked and shook himself, looking up to find the betas on their feet, their ears brushing the overhead of the shuttle. It touched down and his stomach roiled. Kaidan motioned them out, issuing a silent command for Jack to stay close. 

The other shuttle landed in the bay they’d infiltrated and a red wolf jumped out, waving a clawed finger in a circle by her ear to get her team to form up around her. Cora and Liam were already beside her but Kane, black and gold fur shining under the bright white overheads, loped toward her. Jake, still in human form, waved Ash and Kade forward.

There was only one way in, though a decon chamber between the shuttle bay and the rest of the station. The Alphas approached it somewhat warily but a quick examination showed nothing abnormal and they’d found similar chambers on other bases, so they walked in and waited while the scanner passed over them and a fine mist descended from the ceiling. Kate twitched an ear at Jake, looking him up and down with a curious sound. 

He shrugged and said, “My blood sugar crashes too fast when I try to hold that form and use my biotics.”

Kate tossed him a packet of nutrigel from a compartment in her armor. “There. Shift so we can all stay in touch. Please.”

“Because you asked nicely,” he said as the mist stopped. 

He rolled his shoulders, his brow furrowing in concentration, but nothing happened. Kate’s eyes sharpened on him, her ears perking and tail tensing. Kaidan sensed her change in demeanor or smelled the shift in her scent because he looked over at Jake, concern coloring his scent. 

Jake looked at them, holding his hand up. “I can’t shift.”

~*~*~

“The mist,” Kaidan said, holding his own hand up and trying to draw it back into a paw. No response. “There must be something in it. I can’t shift, either.” 

Alarm rippled through the group as they realized that they were trapped in their current forms. Kate’s worried green eyes found his, but she said, “Everybody calm down. These creatures constantly maintain a bipedal form from what we’ve seen, right? Whatever this is, it’s probably doing it. But we’ve also seen them in human and natural forms, which means it most likely wears off. For now, nothing changes. We complete the mission. Focus, people.”

The door slid open, admitting them to the rest of the facility, and she cast a final look at them before loping off with her team at her heels. Jake let his hand drop and nodded as if to himself before ordering Ash and Kade forward. They took the starboard passageway and Kaidan, Jack, and Vega moved to the port side. Jack activated a drone and sent it out ahead of them. 

What would it mean if they couldn’t shift back? He wasn’t worried for himself as much as for Jack. He kept half an eye on his omega as they moved through the facility to the sound of gunfire and explosions. Soon enough, they were making their own noise and his concerns were momentarily forgotten. 

The Cerberus troops that tried to stop them were mostly human, if the word ‘human’ could be used to describe the husks beneath the opaque helmets they wore. When Jack removed the first, Kaidan recoiled from it, his ear tips touching as he cocked his head, examining the glowing blank eyes, the wires, the dead flesh. A human version of the creatures they’d found, the sweet scent of rot pervaded his muzzle, momentarily blocking out even the scent of his mate. 

A smaller lupine creature charged them when they turned a corner and Kaidan reaved it as Jack’s drone began firing rockets on it. Vega threw a grenade and leapt back with surprising agility for a wolf his size, creating distance between themselves and the unnatural thing. Kaidan shifted to keep himself between it and Jack as it charged. He and Vega sprung, the big beta going for its throat while Kaidan shoved his hand between metal ribs, searching for the heart. 

It went down easier than he’d expected. A failed experiment, perhaps? Cannon fodder to slow them down? It didn’t matter. They had to keep moving. 

Kate’s orders to her team filtered through the back of his head, but he noted them the same way he did Jake’s voice through the com. He’d worked with her for long enough that her mental voice was a part of him, and the other Alpha cut in only when he had to. It was Kate who noticed when he went silent. Her voice through the com caught Kaidan’s attention and brought him up short against a sleek gray wall.

“Jake? Jake? What’s your status? Kade? Williams? Jake!” 

Visions of Torfan flashed through his head.

~*~*~

Jake didn’t answer. The com was silent. Dead. Was he? _ Not again. Please, Luna, not again. _

Kaidan’s attempts to soothe her had little effect. Something had happened to Jake. She’d lost one mate already. She was not giving up another. There was no time to evaluate the sentiment while she charged a shock trooper who might have once been human but probably wasn’t anymore. 

She’d been taking her time, proceeding with due regard, but no more. Now, she didn’t hold back. She didn’t hesitate. Finding Jake meant moving forward, and nothing was going to stand in her way. Kane, Cora, and Liam kept pace with her, the betas almost as ferocious in their attacks as she herself. She charged another trooper, burying her teeth in its throat and almost gagging on the rotten meat taste of him when she ripped out his throat. It wasn’t enough to stop her, but after that, she used her omni-blade instead of her teeth.

“Jake,” she tried again, running up a sloping passageway with dropoffs on either side of the walkway. “Come in, Jake.”

No answer. 

Just like Alex. The silence reverberated in her mind. Fear bit at the back of her neck. She couldn’t do this again. It was too much. She had to make it right. 

_ It’s not silent, _ Kaidan argued, dread rising in him at the memory of her madness. _ Listen. Listen to your pack. You’re not alone this time_.

The others chimed in, their voices filling her. 

Liam: _ He’s right, you know. We’re here. _

Cora: _ Right behind you, Shepard. Whatever you need. _

Kane: _ I’m with you. Let’s get my sister, Shep. _

Vega: _ Let’s do this, Lola _. 

Jack: _ It’s going to be alright, Kate. We aren’t leaving you. Stay with us. _

Suvi and Joker, Chakwas and Gil, Vidal and Cortez. They rose like a symphony in her mind. Three were missing, but the message was clear. She had a pack.

_ I’m coming, Jake_. Fighting the panic with the help of her pack, she tore through the station, suppressing the memories of a different place, a different mission, a different mate. _ I’m coming for you. _

~*~*~

“Kate? Status? Alenko? Jack?” No answer. 

Behind him, he could hear Kade saying, “Kane? Answer me, baby brother.”

“I’m not getting anything, either, Skipper,” Ash said. 

Anxiety crawled under his skin, but he nodded. “Alright, we’re on our own for now. We’ll continue the mission as planned. The objective hasn’t changed.”

If he’d only lost contact with one team or the other, he’d have been concerned. Having both drop out meant coms were down, probably being jammed. He couldn’t communicate with them in human form the way he could have if he’d just shifted in the damn shuttle when Kate did, but he still had a vague sense of them. It was enough to let him know his pack was relatively safe and still there. They’d been able to hear gunfire at first, but now there was too much space between for him to pick up on much. 

He took point with Kade in the middle and Ash bringing up the rear. Most of what tried to stop them was human, but there were a couple of the were creatures as well. When the first came through a doorway, memories of the very first one he’d fought had almost robbed him of hope. It had nearly killed three Alphas in half-shift. What chance did an Alpha and two relatively small betas in human form have? 

The advantage they had here that they’d lacked before, though, was room to maneuver. Ash doubled back, pulling out her sniper rifle. Kade, her body wreathed in blue, fired her rifle in between setting up and detonating biotic explosions with him. Charging and slamming a nova into the deck were particularly effective, and within minutes, the beast was down. Easy.

Too easy, something told him. All of this was too easy. They moved inexorably forward, met with just enough resistance to reassure they were going the right way, but not enough to present a significant challenge. It niggled at him, settling at the base of his skull near his amp, and chittered for his attention. 

Cerberus was making monsters out of werewolves. Those creatures were almost always bipedal. Weres tended to fight in half-shift. They’d been sprayed with a substance that locked them into the form they were in, which would have been all of them if he hadn’t chosen not to and Ash and Kade followed his lead. Kaidan had said the intel seemed too easy to obtain. 

One thing no one had figured out was where the wolves came from and who they were. None of their kind would volunteer for this. That meant captives, but from where? 

“It’s a trap,” he said, slowing and holding up his fist to tell the others to hold while he figured out what to do.

They’d suspected it might be, but he was sure of it now. What to do about it, though? ‘Stick to the plan’ was what his training said, but he didn’t know if the others had figured it out yet or not. What if the coms were down because the trap was already sprung on them? He was approaching the central chamber and there was silence up ahead, so they either hadn’t reached it yet or they were in trouble. 

The idea of Kate in trouble was enough to make the decision for him. The image of her along with Kaidan and Jack captured and needing him spurred him forward. He couldn’t feel panic from them, but his own racing heart and rushing adrenaline covered anything he might have gotten from them. 

He positioned Ash and Kade on either side of the doorway to the central chamber and went through with his shotgun ready. And found a room full of stasis pods with a man and the biggest werebeast he’d ever seen. They turned to look at them as they came through the door. The creature, somehow bulky and lanky at the same time with greasy black fur, snarled at the sight of them. 

The man beside him smiled. “Easy, Leng. Be polite to our guest.”

The creature curled its lip but relaxed infinitesimally. Jake moved into the room, his shotgun trained on them. Ash and Kade followed behind, probably signing their own death warrants but lacking even a hint of hesitation. He couldn’t smell Kate or the others in the room. 

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Humanity’s shield,” the man said, raising his fist. ”Your kind is a threat to society. Once humanity and the rest of the galaxy sees you for what you are, you will no longer taint our species.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed and he moved to a better position, calculating charge angles, lines of sight, weapon-fire trajectories, and options for cover in the almost-empty room. “And how do you intend to do that?” Keep him talking. Give the others time to arrive.

“You and your friends will lead the assault on the Citadel. After some...enhancements, of course,” the madman said. 

A shudder ran through him, prickling his fur under his skin. He’d rather die. Ash, with her back to the wall, met his gaze. A claw tapped against the frame of her rifle and she cocked an eyebrow at him. He gave her a surreptitious nod. Kade had flanked man and beast. Her grin was feral. 

“What will that accomplish besides weakening humanity’s position?” he asked, careful to avoid the stasis pods. 

“Humans will save them, of course,” he said. Jake could think of a dozen reasons why that logic was flawed but kept his mouth shut. The man continued, “When they see the risk, they will insist that we do away with you. The abomination that you are will cease to exist.”

Movement at the door caught his eye a breath before a shot rang out and the man dropped, a neat hole in his head. A red wolf prowled into the room, smoothly exchanging sniper rifle for shotgun and sneering at the man. 

“You talk too much,” Kate said.

Jake used the distraction to force his half-shift, the drugs finally wearing off enough that he was able to do so without too much issue and he was moving even as the greasy black creature launched itself at Kate. The room exploded into chaos.

In the center of it all, though, was Kate’s calm determination and a wash of relief strong enough to distract him from Kaidan’s team coming into the room behind them and the creatures dropping in left and right. 

_ Jake. Thank the gods you’re alright. _ Kate’s thought bore none of the reserve she’d held since they’d first slept together. _ When you went dark, I thought I’d lost you. Don’t do that to me again. _A fierce, protective thing that could almost be called love swept through him. 

_ I’ll do my best, _ he assured her with a warm chuckle, unloading his shotgun into a creature’s face. 

It would be days before he fully untangled what transpired next. The fight became a blur. The events registered through the blood haze in bits and pieces. Kate and Kaidan taking Leng with their teams. Kate’s grunt of disappointment that turned to satisfaction. The thud of the creature’s body against the floor. The bark of her shotgun as she turned her attention to the next target. A flash of blue. Her howl of pain and rage and fear. 

He spun, charging the long, lean, sword-wielding creature who’d just slashed at Kate. The impact rattled his teeth when he slammed into it and drove his fist into the floor. He fired until his shotgun overheated and turned to Kate. His lips curled up over his teeth and his ears flattened, his tail bristling. She lay on the floor, shaking hands fluttering over what remained of her leg. He crouched protectively over his wounded mate.

_ Mate_. 

Fear raced through him, just shy of debilitating. No way in hell was he losing this one. He wouldn’t survive it. Kaidan howled, dashing over to them and sliding over to her on his knees. Jack followed, covering his six, fear and pain radiating off of him. The betas redoubled their efforts at the sight of one of their Alphas down. 

_ We have to get her out of here or she will bleed out, _ Kaidan told them, fabricating a tourniquet and tying it off above the ruined mess that used to be her knee. A sword alone couldn’t do that kind of damage. It had to have had biotics behind it. What caused it didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was going to die if he didn’t do something.

His fur stood on end, crackling with electricity as he raised his hands, drawing biotic energy up from his toes through his legs and torso to both hands. He’d never been as powerful as Kate or Kaidan, but he could do this. When the energy centered on his palms, he _ shoved _ it out from himself, slamming it into the remaining lupine monsters and shattering the glass floor with the force of their impacts. His amp popped at the base of his skull, the scent of singed fur making his nostrils twitch.

He spun on his heel and scooped Kate up, clutching her to his chest and breaking into a run with Kaidan and Jack hard at his heels. The betas followed, all of them single-minded in their determination to get back to the shuttles. 

_ Vega. Blow it. _

Kaidan’s order came as they leapt into the shuttles and Jack did a headcount before slapping his fist against the cockpit door to let whichever pilot was flying them this time know to take off. Jake couldn’t bring himself to care. His entire attention was on the woman in his arms. K reminded her not to try to shift as she’d lose the leg for sure, but a look was all it took for him to know that nothing she did or didn’t do was likely to change the outcome. 

Images of Johnny and Seth raced through his mind. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t. He loved her. He loved every annoying, irritating, wonderful fucking thing about her and he couldn’t live his life without her.

_ Stay with me, Kate. _

_ If you insist_. She passed out. 


	17. No Limits

_ "The day is coming like a pistol that's aiming at my brain. The way ya shining like a crystal makes me forget the pain. It's do or die, a battle cry. Don't stop, keep going. No limits. We're taking it all. No limits." _

_ "No Limits" by Zayde Wolf _

* * *

Kate laid in bed and tried not to think of her leg. The one that wasn’t there anymore. How was she going to lead the pack now? A three-legged wolf was no use to anyone. She could use a prosthetic in human form but she wouldn’t be able to half-shift anymore. What the hell was she supposed to do? Would Jake and Kaidan even want her around or would they decide to take over the pack together? Two male Alphas leading a pack wasn’t common, but it wasn’t unheard of, either.

She adjusted in the bed, carefully not looking at the depression in the blankets. The ache hadn’t gone away yet though the motion didn’t exactly  _ hurt _ . Jack said that Jake and Kaidan had kept her in half-shift while Chakwas had removed what was left of it, and then they’d forced her into natural form to heal it. They’d spent the past week in dock with various members of the pack curled up in the big bed with her for comfort. This was the first time they’d given her alone and that had come only after Cortez had gone to Kaidan and insisted that she needed it more than companionship at the moment. 

She wasn’t sure he was right. Being alone gave her too much time to think. Thinking was the last thing she wanted to do. At least they’d prevented the attack on the Citadel and blown Cerberus HQ out of the sky. Kaidan had realized too late that there may have been innocent wolves held captive on the station and was still beating himself up about making the call to blow it, but he was also drawing comfort from the pack and it was helping. 

The doors slid open and Jake entered with a tray in hand. He placed it on the nightstand beside the bed before perching beside her and threading his fingers through her hair. His touch was gentle as he tucked a lock behind her ear and leaned in to brush his lips over hers. She sighed, something fluttering inside her, and cupped her hand over his on her cheek.

“Hi, baby,” he whispered against her lips.

“Hi,” she whispered back. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Thinking too much,” she said on a sigh. “What happens now?”

His calloused thumb grazed over her cheekbone, and he leaned in to press his forehead to hers. “We’ll figure it out, babe. It’s going to be alright. Kaidan and I were working on some ideas for your armor, actually. Assuming you want to go back into the field.”

“Really?” she asked, perking up. “What’s the idea?”

He grinned and sat back, pulling up his omnitool and calling up a hologram of an exo-suit. “Okay, so our armor now is flexible plating over a squish skin so that it can move and stretch with us as we shift. But we think there’s a way to make it rigid while still being adaptable using smaller, interlocking mobile plates, a VI, and the concept behind fabric that hardens on impact. That way, it can move with you when you shift to accommodate the different shape. You’ll need to write the VI, but you can make a program that identifies when you’re human and creates a rigid human leg that can serve as a prosthesis and the same when you’re in half-shift, only it matches the shape of your remaining leg so that you’re not forced to limp.” He shrugged. “K’s better at explaining it than I am. He’s the brains of the operation. I’m more the mechanics of it.”

“That could work,” she said, sitting up and throwing her arms around his neck, her attention focused in on the ‘tool. “You’re amazing.”

He beamed and pressed his lips to her hair. “We aren’t losing our Alpha bitch without a fight, love.”

Heat flushed over the bridge of her nose and tops of her cheeks and she ducked her head, resting it against his shoulder. “You called me ‘mate’,” she said, chewing nervously on the inside of her lip. “Did you mean it?”

His fingers twisted the ends of her hair around them and his scent took on a thread of nervousness. “Yes. I love you, Kate. I didn’t plan to and Luna knows it scares me out of my wits because I’d never wanted to love someone I could lose again, but now…you didn’t give me much choice.”

“Good,” she said firmly, pressing her nose to his jaw and breathing deep, her arms sliding around his middle. “I love you, too, Jake. When you went dark…if I hadn’t had such a good team with me, we’d have died half a dozen times because of how recklessly I pushed them trying to get to you.” She tipped her head to look up at him. “But what does that mean for Kaidan and Jack? I…care about them, too. We’ve been family for a long time. I’m not willing to lose them.”

His fingers trailed up and down her back, and he pulled her into his lap, his other hand massaging her damaged thigh without reservation. “That’s fine. I enjoyed the rut together, all four of us. I liked that there was no jealousy or territoriality. I care about them, too. As a matter of fact…” He nuzzled her hair and tapped his omnitool. “K, can you and Jack come up to the cabin, please?”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” he said.

His fingers dipped beneath the hem of her shirt, tracing patterns over her skin, and he nuzzled behind her ear before feathering kisses over her lips. The tenderness in his touch and the utter comfort with her broken body sent shivers down her spine. Her hands slid under his shirt, framing his trim waist, and she pressed closer to him. His tongue flicked over her lips, and they parted for him. She groaned and melted into the kiss.

The door opened and they reluctantly parted, looking over at the newcomers. Kaidan and Jack entered, hand-in-hand, and jogged down the steps. To her surprise, K leaned down and Jake tipped his head back to accept a smiling kiss from the other Alpha. 

Jack nosed under her jaw, playfully kissing behind her ear. “Hey, spitfire.” 

“Hi there, Ace,” she chuckled, her nostrils flaring. “You smell…different.”

“Mmm. K said the same thing this morning.” He crouched in front of her, sliding a hand down her good leg and cupping the back of her calf. Nodding to Jake’s hand on the other leg, he said, “He tell you their idea?” 

“He did,” she nodded, stroking his hair with a grin. 

“I was very helpful,” he boasted with a laugh. “I brought coffee and fetched parts and gave excellent moral support.”

She snickered, leaning over and rubbing the tips of their noses together. “I’m sure you did, Ace.” 

The bed dipped with Kaidan’s weight. He slid an arm around her waist and rested his forehead against her temple. “It’s good to see you smile.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning her head for her own kiss. He obliged happily, sliding a hand into her hair and giving a contented sigh. 

“Kate and I were talking,” Jake said when they parted. “Given our conversation from the other day, Kaidan and Jack, I…have a proposition.” The others settled in to listen to him and he continued, “Kate and I have decided to become a mated pair, but she’s concerned about losing the two of you. I would rather not have that happen, either.”

Jack looked up at her. “Remember when I said that someday the lie wasn’t going to work for you anymore?” She nodded. “It hasn’t just been sex in a long time, spitfire. Not for any of us.”

“He’s right,” Kaidan agreed. “We love you.”

Jake shifted slightly to turn more toward them. “If that extends to me, too, then I have an idea.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jack said with a grin. 

He turned to Kaidan. “I know we can’t really be together like the rest of us. I understand if you’re not on board.”

Kaidan’s eyes met Jake’s and held them for a long moment. “There are always toys. And intimacy doesn’t require sex.”

He nodded. “Okay. Then I propose a family pack. With the four of us.”

“Five,” Jack said, catching Kate’s eye. 

“Five?” she asked.

He took her hand and placed it on his flat belly. “ _ Five _ .”

Her eyes widened as the implication registered and she slid off of Jake’s lap into Jack’s, hugging him tightly. “Holy shit, Ace! That’s wonderful!” 

She smacked a kiss on his lips as Jake drew Kaidan into a hug. Jack grinned and rubbed their noses together, nipping at her lip. “I’m terrified,” he admitted quietly.

“It’ll be alright,” she assured him. “We’ll help you through it. You’re ok with it otherwise?”

“I’m...trying not to think too detailed about it,” he conceded, “but I only panicked for a little while.”

“At least there’s that,” she chuckled, hugging him tight and kissing his lips again.

He groaned and sank into it, cupping her cheeks and brushing his thumbs over the shell of her ears. Desire flared, and she forgot that she’d never feel sexy again, never be able to claim her own body again. Jack canted his hips to press against her. His hands roamed over her skin and through her hair. She shivered, trying to shift to a position that would let her mount him. He laughed against her lips and rose with her, depositing her in Kaidan’s lap. 

“K said last night that he felt like he did when you were locked up,” Jack murmured against her ear. “I think he needs to reconnect with you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, kissing him again before turning to Kaidan, whose arms had slid around her waist.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said quietly. “I’ve missed you.”

She ran her fingers through the silver at his temples and smiled when he nuzzled against her wrist, breathing deeply of her scent. The small shiver that went through him sent butterflies fluttering in her belly. They loved her. How long had she missed it? How long had she loved them without admitting it?

“I missed you, too,  _ tesoro _ ,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder with a sigh. 

“What’s that?” he asked. 

“Treasure,” she said. “Which you are.”

Beside them, Jake had Jack stripped down and lying face-up on top of him with his hand around the omega’s throat. The scent of their desire was sharp and desperate. Kaidan’s was smoother, honey and whiskey. He gently rolled her onto her back, his hand sliding beneath her shirt to support her back, the other cradling her head. 

There was no rush with Kaidan. There rarely ever was. A closet hedonist, he enjoyed the journey and preferred to take his time. Sensation was more important even than knotting. When she and Jack paired up when they’d slept together since the heat, he and Jake would sometimes spend hours touching and exploring each other before turning to them. 

He brought that same focus to her, helping her relearn her body with his hands and mouth. Like the others, he didn’t shy from the broken parts of her. He sought them out, showing her where she was sensitive now, where the barest of touches could make her hiss in a breath, and where was tough enough that a bite was what it took to make her squirm.

Only when she was breathless did he move higher, exploring her center with his lips and tongue. Her hand fisted in the sheets and her good leg wrapped around his back, her heel digging into the muscle. He slipped a finger into her, and her cries mixed with Jack’s, echoing off the glass and metal in the cabin.

She writhed and might have gotten self-conscious if he’d given her time to, but he didn’t. He utilized the time he took well, dropping a kiss here, nipping her hipbone there, playfully flicking his tongue over her belly button before nibbling his way up her torso, pausing to wrap his lips around a nipple and gently graze his teeth over it. She bowed up, moaning his name, her hand locking in his hair. 

Kaidan could get her out of her head in ways no one else could. By the time he perched above her, pressing against her entrance and kissing her slow and deep, like he wanted to drink her in, her fears and reservations had vanished, at least for the moment. All that existed was him and her and the Alpha and omega calling each other’s names nearby and the thick, heavy length pressing into her, searing her. 

He didn’t break the kiss as he began to move, his rhythm unhurried, his touch tender. He’d made love to her like this for years, but only now did she recognize it for what it was. He’d been saying with his body what he couldn’t with his mouth. He’d known for a long time. He had just been waiting for her to catch up. 

He rolled his hips, driving deep, his base nudging against her knot, and that was all it took to send her over. Her leg locked around his waist to hold him close as her knot flexed around him, coaxing his. He groaned sharply, his head falling back and a blue corona dancing around them as he filled her. 

She collapsed beneath him, breathing heavily. Kaidan nuzzled the side of her neck, his chest heaving. Jake’s hand came to rest on her belly, his knot still deep in Jack. The four of them rolled toward each other, squirming together until they lay in a tangle of limbs and a miasma of scent that was coming to mean Pack to her. 

Thank the gods for the idiot admin who’d brought them all together. 


	18. Top of the World

_ Pop the champagne, start a fire. We made it. Put your hands up, raise them higher. We made it. We’re on top of the world.  _

_ “Top of the World” by Zayde Wolf _

* * *

Jake flopped onto the ground beneath a cherry tree at the Alenko orchard and watched Kate creep through the grass with their oldest pup by Jack, a black-tipped silver girl who could have been sired by him or Kaidan, beneath her. Beyond them, Kaidan pretended to be oblivious to their presence, and Jack dashed through the trees with Kate’s youngling. The wind ruffled Jake’s fur, aided by Lyanna’s fingers when the human girl sat down beside him.

“Grandma says it’s almost time for lunch,” she said. 

Jake nodded, thumping his tail in acknowledgment. He’d give them a few more minutes to play with the cubs. Karen would understand. 

The youngest, whom Kate had named Hannah for his adoptive mother, broke off from Jack as Kate sprung with Savvy at Kaidan. K jumped, yipping dramatically when Savvy bit his tail and scrambled up his back to tug his ruff. Kaidan staggered and fell over, showing his belly to the girl with a chuffing laugh.

Kate nudged his belly with her nose.  _ Gotcha. _

_ That you did.  _

Hannah darted clumsily up to Kate, wiry baby fur bristling as she tipped her head back and let out the tiny, warbling howl that never failed to melt all four of her parents’ hearts. She ran under the gap created by Kate’s missing leg and nosed at her belly, latching on with a satisfied grunt. 

Jake chuckled. Apparently it was lunchtime for pups, too. Jack trotted over to Lyanna and laid his head beside her. The girl threw herself over him, draping her arms around his neck with a grin. If she’d ever been afraid of her father’s wolf form, she’d gotten past it long ago. Lately, she’d been talking about joining the pack. Jack had decided to let her if she still wanted when she came of age. Laramie would complain as she always did, but her hold on Lyanna had weakened when she’d realized that her mother had a habit of accusing Jack of the very things she’d done to him. 

Jake paused to lick Jack’s muzzle before going over to Kate and curling around them. Kaidan was still wrestling with Savvy, the afternoon sunlight making his coat gleam sable as he moved. Kate pressed her forehead to Jake’s when he joined her, her tail thumping happily. 

Warmth filled him at having his pack around him. They’d integrated smoothly into the Alenkos’, Kaidan’s parents not flicking an ear at their unconventional family. For the first time since he was sixteen, Jake had a place to belong. Kate, he knew, appreciated it just as much as he did, though she’d been wary of the pack elders at first. 

Jack’s twin sister, Cat, even came around regularly and had requested a transfer onto the  _ Normandy _ , becoming the first human to join an all-wolf pack. The others they’d collected in their war pack had stayed and would remain until death or retirement separated them. 

And to think he’d asked Anderson to remove her. Refusing that request was the best thing the admiral could have done for him. If not for the administrative mixup that had brought them together, he never would have found the loves of his life. 

Hannah huffed a contented sigh and crawled up Kate’s belly to curl up in the spot where black fur met red. Her eyes closed and she promptly fell asleep. Jake nuzzled Kate, happy to remain where he was. Lunch could wait. This was heaven. 


End file.
